Catastrophe Video: Watch A SMART Bus Plow Into Traffic After The Driver Fell Asleep! No One Hurt But Incredible Destruction


Catastrophe Video: Watch A SMART Bus Plow Into Traffic After The Driver Fell Asleep! No One Hurt But Incredible Destruction

I’m not kidding with that title, this is the basic definition of a catastrophe. The 65-year old man driving this SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transport) bus in Michigan falls asleep at the wheel and wakes up about a second before the bus plows into a line of cars stopped in traffic. He has just enough time to literally stand on the brake pedal and aim the bus for the guardrail before he makes contact with the first car which gets punted like a Nerf football and it is a 5500lb SUV. The SMART bus continues on along the guardrail smashing cars before the people further up in line have an inkling that the end of the world is neigh and they manage to pull out of the way before the bus gets to them. Seeing the cars scurry for cover is pretty wild as well. There are multiple angles here and every one of them is nuts. There was a single passenger on the bus and she was OK but she’ll have a story to tell for the rest of her life. Additionally, she picked the best seat in the house as far as safety goes and you’ll understand when you watch the video below.

Before BangShift grew into a full time job, I spent the better part of 10 years working at places where guys drove trucks to deliver items or services and every day I would wonder if something like this would happen. I myself worked as a truck driver straight out of college and know what it is like to have a close call or 10. People want to bag on professional drivers sometimes but it is a tough job and this certainly puts that into clear view. My fear was always wondering what the guy did the night before. Did he sleep? Fight with his wife? Go out and get plowed? At the tail end of my career before BangShift a driver (thankfully not a direct charge) fell asleep at the wheel and wrecked a truck on the highway, injuring no one by the grace of the almighty only. After that happened, I wanted out. This video gives me chills to my core because it shows exactly what happens when the dude controlling the 40 foot bus heading down the road is not on the top of his game. Hell, this guy wasn’t even on the bottom of it.

The weirdest thing here (past the massive destruction) was the amount of time it actually took him to stop the bus after the disaster happened. The thing seems to roll for like a quarter mile before he stops and we’re not sure why. We do notice that he pops the parking brake on while the bus is still rolling and it takes a few feet for it to lurch to a stop. Was he just dazed? This is a nightmare on tape. Again, having been in the seat of a truck that was in a situation that could have harmed a bunch of people (even me) this personifies pure terror. The lady at the end of the line had no idea what was coming .

THANKS FOR THE TIP MICHAEL JONES!

PRESS PLAY BELOW AND THEN WONDER HOW NO ONE WAS KILLED!


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10 thoughts on “Catastrophe Video: Watch A SMART Bus Plow Into Traffic After The Driver Fell Asleep! No One Hurt But Incredible Destruction

  1. TheSilverBuick

    I didn’t have the audio on, but that sure looked like major brake/air line failure to me. Like he was coming up to slowing traffic, hit the brake, realized “OH S&*T”, and started evaluating where to go from there and chose the guardrail.

    1. stickman

      I do not know for sure, but wouldn’t a bus that size have air brakes? I thought air brakes open with air pressure and close with no pressure. If a airline broke it locks the brakes up? Again I don’t know just what I thought.

  2. Scott Liggett

    As a professional driver for 25 years, scenes like these make me glad I am no more.

    He may have an undiagnosed sleep problem like sleep apnea. Though he didnt appear to doze off in the video. I bet he didnt doze off the rest of that day.

  3. kyle russell

    Damn. That bus didn’t even seem like the brakes were applied. I’m not sure how much that bus weighs, but, I drive flatbed tow trucks and wreckers and I had a guy try to do a u turn in front of me as I’m doing 55. I swerved and He ran into the back of the truck, I slammed on the brakes and stopped within 50yrds of the impact point. And That’s about a 14 ton truck. This guy plowed through cars and never even slowed down it seems.

  4. ratty

    Extra points to the car drivers who were paying attention to their mirrors and pulling off a hasty exit from that line of dominoes… When in doubt, get the ‘f out! Too many people just freeze and pay the price for slow reactions (obviously some have no choice depending on where they’re situated). And street crash videos like this are the perfect response to people who, a) think racers are irresponsible risk takers for racing on a race track, forgetting that the most dangerous place in the world is on the street, not the track, and b) idiots who think wearing seatbelts are more dangerous than not wearing one…

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