Just ANOTHER A.M. Costa Rica School Bus Crash
Another morning taking my son to school, another Costa Rica school bus crash.
Unfortunately, this is a daily occurrence in Costa Rica where too many private school bus drivers run the roads in a reckless manner - unchecked.
In the following situation the school bus driver illegally passed a stopped vehicle on the right in a busy intersection. The vehicle the school bus was passing without regard for safety was stopped for a reason ... they were trying to allow a taxi to pass in front of them through an extremely busy intersection.
The following pictures are the result of this school bus drivers actions:
This is NOT an isolated incident. Almost daily while taking my son to school I witness Costa Rica school bus drivers weaving through traffic, making U-turns in heavy traffic, cutting-off other cars while talking and/or texting on cell phones, etc. ,etc. All while packed with innocent uniformed private school students sitting obediently in their seats holding onto their backpacks and bracing for the next sharp turn, sudden stop or inevitable collision.
It's absolutely nutz and the main reason my son's life is no longer entrusted with the friendly neighborhood school bus driver - a wave, a smile & then let the reckless driving begin with my son in the van ... No Thanks!
Parents if you love your kids, anonymously follow their school bus once in awhile to check the drivers habits!!!
Non-parents take some initiative to follow such drivers to their final destinations and report their dangerous driving to school administrators to avert future disasters.
New Costa Rica traffic laws have been written, passed through legislation and will soon take effect in efforts to curtail this crazyness ... but without real enforcement, the desired reforms will more than likely have little effect on the culture of chaos that is currently Costa Rica's roadways.
¡Pura Seguridad de Niños en el Tráfico!
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Comments
yikes
what a hair-raising experience. i hope you don't meet that guy again anytime soon, what a jerk!
another Costa Rica traffic report
Yesterday (Sat., 8/22/09) while biking on the mountain road up to Las Nubes, Costa Rica, I was almost hit by a taxi driving backwards. Then the taxi driver intentionally tried to hit me 3 more times - twice with his car and once with his fist. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know I'm trained in threat neutralization ... but he do now ;o)
The taxi driver became disgruntled when I smacked his car’s hood to get him to stop before hitting me as he turned the wheel of his car while driving in reverse in the roadway to line-up an attempted and illegal u-turn in heavy traffic.
It was broad daylight, I had a bicycle LED strobe light flashing on my handle bars, was wearing a yellow reflective vest & I yelled 3 times but he just kept coming. Hitting his car with my hand instead of my cranium was all I could do to stop him from running me over.
After getting past the taxi I was again peddling up-hill when all of a sudden the same taxi driver blindly overcame me from the rear and cut directly in front of me - causing me to brake hard and drop my bike.
Words were exchanged and the taxi driver took off in the same direction I was traveling. Due to traffic congestion I quickly overtook the taxi and passed along the side of the road without incident. Then out of knowhere the taxi driver again overcame me blindly from the rear and tried sideswiping my bike as I peddled.
In between the first and second attempt at hitting me with his taxi - this 'taxisto' had actually picked up a young woman as a fare (business he wouldn't have gotten if he hadn't chased me ;o). This woman was in the back seat when he tried to hit me the 2nd time. She looked at me wide-eyed out the back window as I stood with my dropped bike on the side of the roadway.
But this young passenger's ride was as short as it was eventful - after the taxi driver got out of his car and threw a punch at me, he was no longer in any shape to drive.
In my past career I was trained and successfully practiced 'threat neutralization'.
I would always advise the other party I was not paid to fight, I was there to resolve the situation.
5.3 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU) of Fox Labs Law Enforcement Formula oleoresin capsicum (OC) to the nose and mouth always ends the aggression - and in this case, the work day of a very dangerous taxi driver!
Other drivers that had witnessed the entire 5 minutes of insanity honked and gave me Thumbs Up as they drove by and I was on my way to complete the rest of my 2,000 foot mountain assent.
In the end, I got a really good cardio workout with the extra adrenaline dump and my wide-open sinuses from the little bit of pepper spray that I did ingest from the swirling wind during discharge.
¡Pura Furia de la Vía!
glad it's not you!
your traffic reports are a hoot! or should i say, a toot!!
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