The old bus-driver weighs in......

...about the big accident up the street.
Wherein a giant semi skids through a red-light, T-bones a car, skids off the road into somebody’s front yard, hits a tree, and almost hits a house.
I blogged about it on this site, because it took out our Internet.
It was at the intersection of Route 65 and Routes 5&20.
—A) Am I going to be able to avoid getting T-boned by a skidding semi, even though I have a green light?
I think so.
Just recently a phenomenal avoidance similar to this occurred at the Rush Exit of Interstate-390.
I also blogged about that.
A white full-size Chevrolet pickup pulled out in front of me.
I could see his mistake coming.
He wasn’t even looking my way at all.
Um, hello.
That’s me slamming on my brakes.
The fact you’re making a mistake is no reason to involve me in an accident.
Same thing with the semi skidding through a red-light.
So I have a green light.
No matter.
I always look both ways before proceeding into a green light.
It’s called defensive driving.
Looking out for the other guy making mistakes.
—B) How did that truck-driver end up skidding through a red-light?
“I come over the hill, and see the light turn to red.”
“Hill! What hill?” I asked.
The highest point on 5&20 in West Bloomfield is about 100 yards from that traffic-light, maybe 5-10 feet higher than that intersection.
Headed west, just like that semi, I can see that traffic-light well before that high point — maybe 400 yards.
Green or not, I always approach a traffic-light with my foot on the brake.
It may go yellow, or red on me.
I always look both ways before proceeding through a green light, in case some errant driver is running that red-light.
Saved my car on Thomas Road once.
Someone was running the stop-sign on Brickyard Road, so I stopped.
His making a mistake is not worth taking out my car.
Something tells me that truck-driver blew it; he was distracted or something.
There certainly are enough things to distract; cellphones, etc.
I once got run off the road by a driver reading the newspaper while applying makeup.
Almost got backed into in the Honeoye Falls MarketPlace parking-lot by a lady yammering on her cellphone.
A guy told me once he always assumed an approaching car with its turn-signal on was turning, so he turned in front of it.
NOT THIS KID!
I almost got T-boned by a driver with his turn-signal on by mistake.
I was driving bus.
I always wait until I see the car actually turning. Drives followers crazy.
It’s the old bus-drivers jones. Ya couldn’t succeed as a bus-driver unless ya drove defensively.

• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY.
• “The intersection of Route 65 and Routes 5&20” is right up the street from where we live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western N.Y., southeast of Rochester. We live on State Route 65. “5&20” is the main east-west road (a two-lane highway) through our area; State Route 5 and U.S. Route 20, both on the same road. 5&20 is just south of where we live.
• “Interstate-390” is the main expressway into Rochester from the south. “Rush” is a small village nearby; about 12 miles from our house.
• “Thomas Road” is an east-west two-lane rural road out of Canandaigua; “Brickyard Road” is a north-south two-lane rural road out of Canandaigua. “Canandaigua” (“cannon-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.
• “Honeoye Falls” is the nearest village to the west; about five miles away. It has a supermarket called “MarketPlace.”