Posted on 11/20/2009 12:55:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DINWIDDIE, Va. – The driver of a Miley Cyrus tour bus was killed Friday when the bus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said.
Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddie County, about 40 miles south of Richmond. Speed and weather weren't considered factors.
The driver, William G. Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, died at the scene, police said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
long 2 lanes and just guardrails and trees on either side of this stretch of road. No place to pull over for a very long stretch.
Well as long as Hannah Montana wasn’t onboard i guess it’s OK then.
About two dozen members of the tour, some still wearing pajama bottoms, began transferring backpacks and laptops from the wrecked bus into two other buses parked outside a restaurant. They declined to speak to reporters.
The accident apparently happened at 0815. I looks to me like this driver was driving through the night with his passengers and fell asleep at the wheel, causing the accident. A similar accident happened to a church bus near Memphis, TN a few years ago with many fatalities.
I've had a few incidents in my life when I've almost fallen asleep at the wheel. Although none resulted in an accident, I've learned from those experiences how easily any could have. I deal with this in three ways: 1) I try not to drive under circumstances where it looks like I might fall asleep at the wheel, 2) I keep a bottle of NoDoz in my glove compartment and take a couple of tablets when I think I might have occasion to fall asleep at the wheel and, more important, 3) if I feel it happening, I get off the road at the safest possible point, park, pull the keys out of the ignition, push my seat back, and get the sleep I need before getting back on the road.
this is what i've done a couple of times... i once tried to force myself to stay awake as i was driving from San Francisco to the South Bay on Hwy. 101--it's only an hour away... i was hallucinating... started seeing all kinds of weird stuff on the sides of the road... my friend noticed and took over the driving... one other time i was coming home from Santa Cruz on Hwy. 17... again, i tried forcing myself to keep my eyes open... and again i began hallucinating about where i was... pulled over at a coffee shop... now i just automatically pull over... has not happened much in the last twenty years... i try to make sure i get enough sleep if have to drive...
Years ago I worked for a well known touring rock band. We had a bus driver who was notorious for nodding out at the wheel. I had to keep a volunteer up front to watch him until I could get a replacement driver flown in. Pretty scary stuff. When you get in your bunk for sleep you are at the mercy of the driver. Back then almost all drove double shifts. There were no log books and no enforceble sanctions.
Too bad Tim Kaine closed the rest areas. Maybe the driver could have gotten a nap.
That’s why I took the all night bus from TN to DC and back for Michelle Blackmun’s demonstration a couple of weeks ago. The charter company did a good job; they had a night driver and a day driver.
Latina, as far as halucinating is concerned, I’ve got an even better sleep deprivation story. In 1981, while I was living in Milwaukee, WI, I participated in a 158 mile sailing race that was a round trip from Muskegon, MI to Racine, WI and back across Lake Michigan. I made a navigation error on the way back that caused me to be out a total of 41 hours on NODoz for two nights. On the second night out the wind died, there was a fog, and, although I knew it wasn’t true, I absolutely believed I was sailing down an alley some place in Chicago, where I was born. Single handed sailors often have experiences like that.
True. However, there’s always my emergency solution: get off any where ther’s a large, lighted parking lot and use it. A sleep deprivation situation like that is definitely a matter of life and eath.
Too many stories to tell! Once though, was smart enough to pull over for a few minutes. Driving two vehicles and radioed over to the other one that I needed to stop and rest. He pulled alongside me and I slept for a bit.
He wakes me up over the radio: “Hey - wakeup!”
I jerk my head up and slam on the brakes. Looking around with my heart in my stomach - oh, that’s right - I had pulled over!
i was sleeping in my car once during a lunch break at work. i must have been dreaming about driving or something because i woke up gasping for air, grabbed the wheel and slammed on the brakes. my heart was pounding!
That’s why I always pull the keys out of the ignition when I pull over for some uplanned sleep. I’m afraid that if I leave them in the ignition, I might have some half dream that would cause me to half awake, start the vehicle, put in in gear and have a collison while I was mostly asleep.
I’ve dozed off at the wheel only once years ago. Hubby was asleep and I was very sleepy. I turned on the radio for noise...no good. I rolled down the window for fresh air, but my eyes were practically crossing from trying to keep them open.
I was on a straight stretch outside Amarillo and I wanted to make it there before I stopped. One minute I was awake and driving on my side of the road. The next I was dozing and heading for the ditch on the other side of the road. I’m just thankful that I woke up before I reached it, and that there was no other traffic at that particular time at that time of the morning.
It scared me so badly that it woke me up. I couldn’t have gone to sleep for a while, even if I’d wanted to sleep!
She or her long legged pappy were not on board is my first guess.
Prayers up for the driver and his family and friends, and for the injured.
First thing that came to my mind was Cliff Burton.
That nearly parallels an experience I had. One moment I’m driving down a straight, featureless I-10 in NM heading toward El Paso, next thing I know I get jostled awake because the car is tilted in an unnatural way and heading into the median. Good thing for me the stretch of median just had some low scrub brush. A few miles earlier the median had had small trees and cactus growing.
I was wired awake after that experience.
That’s scary stuff! Glad you didn’t get hurt. Stay Safe! Anyone, if able should get tested for sleep apnea if they fall asleep at the wheel randomly. (If the result of long trips-—please take safety precautions)
I was thinking that I wouldn’t have wanted to experience that while driving anything larger than the personal vehicle that I was driving, and certainly not being responsible for the lives of a number of other people as well.
It gives you pause for thought that I could have been responsible for killing my husband, or myself, or both.
I think there is something to what you said about “featureless”. The monotony is almost hypnotic, especially when there is no traffic to cause distraction. If you are tired and sleepy anyway, you can fall asleep before you know it.
I would have expected this to happen to a Willie Nelson tour bus long before a Miley Cyrus one.
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