First Accident

[o1marc]

Okay, so this story is a little late, I was too embarrassed to post it before. So I pick up my bus in Butte,Mt. and head south to Twin Falls. Wait, how did I end up in Isaaquah, Wa. ****, missed my turn 3 hours back. I pollinate a gas station for my second fill up, filled it on departure from the seller. So I pull into this gas station to fill up an d clip a light pole on the edge of the property and bend it over at about a 40° angle. I pull up to the pump and go in and tell the Hispanic cashier I hit his pole. He doesn't really understand so I'm going to leave it at that, I reported it. Well this other lady who worked there understood me perfectly and ran in the back and grabbed the store owner. He comes flying out the front door. Hate to be racist or stereotypical, but his little oriental guy comes flying out , arms flailing all around as thought I just blew up his station. Ranting and raving about how I'm going to pay. I have half a mind to just get in my bus and go. I have no tag or identifying marks and would have been long gone by the time the cops showed up. But I do the right thing and wait around for the cop. He shows up and immediately informs me there is nothing he can do but write a report. I was already on the phone with my insurance agent. The cop looked at my phone screen to read State Farm and asked to talk to my agent who informed them that I was indeed covered. Cop gave me his card with a case number and sent me on my way. I am extremely glad that just before I left I got detailed pics of the pole. This pole has obviously been hit and knocked over many multiple time and never repaired. It is just pushed back up straight and waits for the next sucker to it and knock it over. The base is rotted and corroded and ripped open on 2 sides and never been repaired. The gas station owner filed a claim that day. When I got home and viewed the pics more I said there's no way I'm paying for this pole. I'm trying hard not to have a claim as I am claim free and get huge discounts for never having filed a claim. I call my agent to check the status and he says claims has it and will probably pay the claim. I asked if he'd seen the pics and he said no, so I forwarded them to him again. When I called back he answered the phone "Hold on I'm still ROTFLMAO. No way we're paying this claim.
A few days later I call claims to check the status and they inform me that I was covered at the time and we are going to pay the claim. I made it clear there was NFW I was taking responsibility for the damage to the pole and that I would glady pay the man $25 to redo the paint I scraped off the pole. Have you seen the pics? No what pics? I'll send them right over. I call back and claims tells me after seeing the pics they are kicking it upstairs to decline dept. I get a call from them the next day saying they are declining the claim and he can pound sand.

[BlackJohn]

Let me guess. first time driving something that size?

[Meddle]

I had my first accident a couple of weeks ago. I clipped my own mailbox in front of my house. Made me feel kinda silly! Only took about 45 minutes to fix. Barely even put a scratch in the paint on the bus. If I never have anything more serious than that I will consider myself a very lucky man.


Bob

[o1marc]

Yes sir, and it wasn't my last before that weekend. I took out a wooden box at the end of my brothers driveway and rolled over a small copper driveway light. I never knew it and didn't hear or feel anything. I was going to park the bus in spot on the island so his wife could get her car in the drive after work. He pulls into the lot I parked it and immediately said "If you're going to be driving this much , you better keep your checkbook handy." I asked why and he said " you're going to be writing a lot of check for damages if you don't learn how to drive that thing" I immediately thought of the hell his wife was going to raise and when I got back to the house found the wooden box could be straightened and wasn't important, it was built to temporarily hide a small concrete slab under it with electrical run and sticking up, Box was for aesthetics, must run in the family. I try tried to stomp the driveway light lid flat again and set it on top of the stalk that it was broken off of. Just enough for him to not be right when he told me his wife would notice it as soon as she pulled in. We were on the dock and talking about something else and out of the blue I said "I want you to do me a big favor" He replied "I won't tell her till you're gone" Took the words out of my mouth with which I followed with "Don't ever tell her unless she sees it and asks" The box covers unfinished electric that will light the Lighthouse he is building there.

[jjhwick119]

I got really close on my first trip home. I pulled off the highway into one of the bigger gas stations that had a lot of space in the back for truckers to park, and the border of the lot lined with giant rocks, about 3 foot by 4 foot by 3 foot...ish. Well there was no other trucks in this one area and I wanted to try reversing the bus for the first time to the back to park. Went slow, kept my eyes glued on the mirrors, and went back and parked it great! I got out of the bus, did a walk around, and realized that I went past the rocks. Thankfully, it was about 6-10 inches under the bus, so I cleared it just fine, but if I would have went back 6 more inches I would have smacked the rear dif right into the boulder.

Good to hear your first accident at least turned out well for ya!

[o1marc]

It was weird pulling out of his driveway. If you look at the second picture I am standing on the edge of the road with a 4' drop off into the Puget Sound behind me. When pulling out of his drive my seat literally had to go over the water before my rear wheels would clear the light house box, was a bit scary. Have 3k miles on it since then and have become pretty proficient, but it was definitely a sharp learning curve. I have a tight driveway that curves and goes down to the basement, have no problem backing it up to the garage door now.

[BlackJohn]

I think you might do ok if I entered you in the dirt skoolie races here.
Drive that scrap one up and we can train you,


John

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

I think you might do ok if I entered you in the dirt skoolie races here.
Drive that scrap one up and we can train you,


John

Were you aware I drove Nascar stock cars here for 20 years, I'm all for some bus racing. We had bus train races at our track, 3 buses chained bumper to bumper. The front bus steers and has the throttle, but no brakes. The rear bus has a driver and brakes only. Wild stuff.

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Were you aware I drove Nascar stock cars here for 20 years, I'm all for some bus racing. We had bus train races at our track, 3 buses chained bumper to bumper. The front bus steers and has the throttle, but no brakes. The rear bus has a driver and brakes only. Wild stuff.

No didn't know you evr drove anything after all that damage at your brother's place.
Brighton Speedway here has bus racing once or twice a season. Good fun, chain bus racing sounds like fun. How do they do reversing? lol




John

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

No didn't know you evr drove anything after all that damage at your brother's place.
Brighton Speedway here has bus racing once or twice a season. Good fun, chain bus racing sounds like fun. How do they do reversing? lol




John

Racecars, we don't need no stinking reverse. Front bus had to push the train back or you couldn't get back in the race. We had backwards bus races. That idiot promoter spent more time on novelty **** instead of taking care of the racers until he went out of business and closed one of the nicest Nascar short tracks in the country.
I drove 2600 miles the days after those pics were taken. Mostly freeway, but lots of fuels stops.

[oricha1984]

thats a cool looking front yard !

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by oricha1984

thats a cool looking front yard !

It's a million dollar home on Bainbridge Island, Wa. The Puget sound is in his front yard, literally 100' from the water is his front porch. Unfortunately the "beach" on Puget Sound is not sand, but 2"-4" gravel. My brother said "By God, if I'm going to the beach I want to have my toes in the sand." So he built his own beach in the front yard with all the logs and sand beach and the moat bridge. The Light House will finish it off.

[roach711]

Originally Posted by Meddle

I had my first accident a couple of weeks ago. I clipped my own mailbox in front of my house. Bob

I always back our bus up about 150 feet of driveway when parking it and never had a problem until I installed a backup camera. The first time I used the backup cam to guide me into the drive I clipped our mailbox. Now I'm back to relying on the mirrors and using the camera as confirmation of rear end clearance. Often the old ways work best.

[o1marc]

I want to mount little red LED's in my rubber rear wheel flares so I can better see where the rear wheels are when it's dark. They're closer than I think.:big grin:
Roach, my driveway is 100' long and 30' wide at the house, but that tapers down to 8' wide at the road. What you don't see in the pic is the hardwood trees that line each side of the drive at the street. I trimmed some branches so I can hit it in one shot from either direction.

[family wagon]

I did that with my dump trailer. It's painted black as night and awful hard to see when backing it up into/out of a site and trying to avoid fence posts etc. I put six inches of waterproof white LED tape in each fender to light up where the wheels are while the reverse lamps are on. It made such a difference!

[MarkyDee]

My first accident occurred while "maneuvering" my bus out of the driveway for the first time. My seller delivered the bus for me and parked it in my driveway (100ft+ gravel driveway off of a narrow, barely 16' asphalt road). I of course stood amazed how he got the bus into the driveway.

So, I psych'ed myself up for the first take-out. Did my "walk around" (yea, I still have a few things to learn). Got it fired up. Pulled forward and started making my turn onto the road - I was trying to miss my neighbor's trashcans that were right in front of me ... and the bus just slowly ground to a halt.

I couldn't figure it out - my foot wasn't on the brake. Transmission was in "D". Engine was still running. Why wasn't I going anywhere???

My wife came running out of the house - "wait! wait! STOP!" I opened the door to hear her out: "You're hung up on the power pole!" Looked in my right mirror, and there it was, clear as day. I turned into and side-swiped our power pole. "Uh, oh...."

Well, I backed it off the pole and back into the driveway to check out the damage.

The pole bore no strange marks, and the side of the bus - well, it needs body work anyway.... (about 4ft long streaks down the side)....

[Tryonis]

The only thing i have managed to do is rub my belly bay door on the ground exiting my driveway. I am glad i have them but they are close to the ground. I figure a little hammering and bondo it shall be good as new.

[Blueman]

Oh I just love the stories. It sure made my day. Sorry fellas. I drove a school bus for two years back in 2008. Did the training and everything and passed the road test first time. Althogh I gotta admit its a little intimidating the first time in one of those. But after that I ended up getting my class A cdl and drove semi a couple years. So I have plenty of experience in bigger vehicles. My bus is only 35 feet and maneuvers amazing. So glad to because some places are kind of a bugger to get in to. But I hope your skoolie adventures are blessed and accident free.

[o1marc]

After viewing my photos my insurance has declined the station owners claim.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by o1marc

After viewing my photos my insurance has declined the station owners claim.

Can he go after you?