I Finally Got Rid Of My “B” Card (Bus/Car Collision That Is)

I’ve seen it one time before, though heard about it countless more. A bus and a car. Smashing it up. Screeching up some tires and messing up some traffic. The one accident I’d witnessed was years ago when I was still an idiotic driver. It was at the Southeast corner of Wilshire and La Brea. From what I could surmise, the 212 was stopped picking up/dropping off people and someone in a Jaguar decided it was taking to long, tried to speed around them to turn right just as the bus was going forward and BOOM… crasharinos. Glass and bumper alike splashing to the pavement. I cursed the moronic Jaguar owner for messing up traffic and for the rest of my ride home wondered what was next for the bus riders. What was to become of them? Though I was still unsure of Metro’s bus system, I assumed busses didn’t come more often then every 10 to 15 minutes. So what was next for these unfortunate riders? Were they at least going to get a free ride? Perhaps a free coupon to Chilis. Well today I found out first hand and this time, the bus was to blame.

The 14 was cruising well enough along ol’ Beverly this morning. Westbound and on time. A rare morning indeed, though little did I know how rare it would be. I was sitting in the far back left of the bus, my usual seat since I get on it while there’s only about one to two other passengers. I popped open the window to get some air flowing, without hesitation I might add. (I’ve come a long way.) The weather this morning was brisk. The buildings of downtown were glossy in wet clouds of a marina. Sailboats peeking through. And the breeze coming through the window was equally refreshing. What a morning, I thought and I opened my book with full breath.

I looked up when a lady yelled “back door.” It seemed this woman had missed her stop just moments prior, an honest mistake, and since we weren’t going anywhere in the traffic the bus driver, a black lady with a wide smile and wide ass, opened the door without hesitation. Our bus was about half way in the intersection when the woman got off the bus, but no so far where as the back door didn’t line up with a curb. Ahead of us was another bus, the 14 that stops at La Cienega to be exact and she wasn’t budging. However, being an optimist, our bus driver drove forward, entirely into the intersection as I sat watching the far light with bated breath. Soon the traffic would have to move. Soon the sister 14 would start forward. Soon. But soon didn’t come fast enough for soon enough the yellow went red.

There we were. Ol’ 14 in the middle of the intersection. Cars creeping at us from both north and south of Beverly, just a block or two from Western. I thought about a billboard I used to see on the way to work on Pico of a Corona bottle lying on its side with a lime blocking the neck saying, “Gridlock Especial”. And oh how true it was. Quite especial indeed. But it only got more especial. Time, as everyone can relate who has made the poor decision to enter an intersection with the hopes of the far end to start moving before the light turns red, goes amazingly slow. Slow drip stylez. Leave changing color stylez, and not New England either; I’m talking SoCal color changing speed. Pigment just won’t go. And nor will that damn bus in front of us.

I thought, well the only thing to do is wait it out. We’re a huge bus, that’s our only option. Sorry everyone else, but backing up would be unimaginable. However, unimaginable was not in our bus driver’s dictionary. Impossible had never crossed her lips. She dreamed not in black and white but in hi-res 7.2 mega pixel color. Rainbows and rainforests every night. Unimaginable was just waiting to be imagined and as I heard the first rings of that reverse “BEEP”, I knew this bus driver was thinking Disney.

I couldn’t believe it. She was doing it. I could see her face move from left to right checking the side view mirrors, but what about the back. What about the back! Well soon enough she knew for just a couple moments later there was a “honk” and a “smash”.

I got off the bus with the hopes of catching the creeping sister 14. I thought about asking the driver if she could call the bus to wait a minute for myself and the others to catch up to it, but the Korean man she hit was fuming and I thought it best to just leave it be. And it didn’t seem like anyone else de-boarding was getting Chili’s coupons so I let that idea go to bed as well. When I hit the sidewalk I took a couple of meaningless strides west hoping maybe the other bus would just know, but it drove off and there was no chance of getting it. I walked towards the next Rapid stop, just west of Western along with the rest of the passengers. A rapid should be along at any moment I thought and though it would be a fairly long walk to work I knew the walk would be filled with this post.

And now that I know the answer to what happens to the riders (nothing) I wonder what will happen with the driver. It was obviously her fault so what’s next? Does anyone know? Is there an accident count? A point system? A severity of collision chart? And the thing about it all was that I wasn’t surprised by the crash, it was inevitable. From the moment the sound of reverse was alarmed I knew it was going to happen. There was no way there wouldn’t be a car behind us and a car after that and after that at rush hour on Beverly Blvd just east of Western. But logic it seems is tossed out in Gridlock Especial. So if not a “Severity Chart,” perhaps a Stupidity one?