Originally Posted By leobloom <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-child-hit-bus-disney-20100401,0,6156951.story" target="_blank">http://www.orlandosentinel.com...51.story</a> Another black eye for transportation. This one looks worse with a child's death involved.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I was just about to post this. My heart goes out to the family and everyone involved. Something needs to be done here. The transportation system needs a good looking at, as does WDW's ridiculous work load/pay rates for it's cast members.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Something needs to be done here. The transportation system needs a good looking at, as does WDW's ridiculous work load/pay rates for it's cast members. << Does seem like WDW transportation needs to be reviewed and not by the bean counters. If it turns out the victim in this story was bicycling and the bus didn't see him or passed too closely, the news is gonna get really ugly.
Originally Posted By leobloom Passing this along: From the FHP spokeperson, quoted in one of the news reports: "At approximately 1:45pm this afternoon, a 10-year-old boy was struck by a Disney Bus while riding a bike with an 11-year-old friend. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene. Troopers are on scene conducting a traffic homicide investigation."
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Before jumping to conclusions, it's entirely possible the boy wasn't paying attention or doing something that caused the accident. Kids don't exactly receive instructions on how to ride a bicycle safely, and a bus can only maneuver and stop so fast, so let's not cast stones at Disney just yet.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Before jumping to conclusions, it's entirely possible the boy wasn't paying attention or doing something that caused the accident. Kids don't exactly receive instructions on how to ride a bicycle safely, and a bus can only maneuver and stop so fast, so let's not cast stones at Disney just yet.>> Yes, this could have easily been the kid's fault. That's beside the point. There've been way too many incidents the past year/months to the point that something is going on. If things aren't being looked at yet, they need to start.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Kids don't exactly receive instructions on how to ride a bicycle safely, and a bus can only maneuver and stop so fast, so let's not cast stones at Disney just yet. << You're right, we need to wait for more facts on this particular story. But it does seem that something is awry with WDW transportation. Like perhaps efficiency has trumped safety, courtesy, and show?
Originally Posted By brerroadrunner Prayers to the family of this young child. Can't we accept that "accidents" do sometimes happen without casting blame. It's not a perfect world, you strive to do your best and things go wrong anyway. Wait till all the facts are in before blaming a child or company.
Originally Posted By hopemax For those trying to visualize where the accident occurred, my Dad said it was north of the Meadows Trading Post, on the road that would be the "Yellow" bus route. In addition to the kids wearing helmets, the Orlando news is reporting there was additional bicycle traffic in the area. Which wouldn't be a surprise since the place to rent bikes is at the Meadows. It's a busy time of year, in an area where bicycles, pedestrians and golf carts would be present, so the bus drivers should be on alert. I believe the speed limit is 20mph, but I have been on the buses going from the parking lot to the Settlement when the buses have seemed like they were traveling faster than that; more like 35mph. I suspect that the number one complaint for transportation from guests is, "Why does it take so long?" or "Why do I have to wait so long for a bus?" So I suspect the drivers are under pressure to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. If a driver runs late, I bet they are counseled about the importance of sticking to the schedule. In that kind of environment, I can easily see how an accident like this, or the accident at the Epcot entrance happens. I would like to believe that Disney encourages their drivers to obey the rules of the road and be observant of their surroundings, and in general, just slow down. But I don't at this point. Been on too many buses taking turns to fast, cutting off other drivers etc.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Can't we accept that "accidents" do sometimes happen without casting blame. It's not a perfect world, you strive to do your best and things go wrong anyway. Wait till all the facts are in before blaming a child or company.>> Accidents do happen. But the frequency at which they've been happening on property, in multiple aspects of the transportation division, is alarming.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Here's a quote from a good friend of mine who's working with the Mouse: "I imagine it has to have something to do with CM's who are grossly overworked and underpaid in addition to cutting corners because of budgets and the sheer amount of inexperienced leaders (or lack of leaders altogether) following last year's lay-offs. This is ridiculous though. Invest more money into our frontline CM's who have to directly uphold the safety of their positions than in the folks dithering around with their radios and pickers making us remove our pink nail polish."
Originally Posted By LPFan22 Cnn.com is showing the location on video. There are no graphic visuals and there is no sound.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 I can be one of the first to jump on Disney about things. In my opinion the monorail accident was completely the companies fault. But I am not ready to do that here yet. Having stayed at Ft Wilderness many times I know that kids can often be unaware of the things going on around them when they are having fun. The bus driver may not be at fault at all. So I think it is a wait and see what happened before placing blame at Disney, underpaid CM's and lax safety issues.
Originally Posted By Mr F 2 people died on Mission: Space, & A Monorail driver was killed last year,and now a 10 year old boy? How many people have died at Disney world within this decade? If everything at Disney world was within walking distance of each other,then their wouldn't be a need for buses.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^I wouldn't call what happened on Mission: Space anywhere near Disney's fault. Those were heart conditions that shouldn't have ridden the ride.
Originally Posted By brerroadrunner <<2 people died on Mission: Space, & A Monorail driver was killed last year,and now a 10 year old boy? How many people have died at Disney world within this decade?>> You must consider the number of people at Disney World within this decade and the ratio is probably pretty small. It is a shame when any life is lost. Some of the deaths were natural causes with nothing to do with Disney except the person was at Disney. All anyone recalls is someone died at Disney so it must have been the result of Disney error.
