School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
 All Forums
 General Interest
 Enter Forum: General Interest
 Crosswinds?
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

IC
Top Member

USA
3413 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2005 :  6:32:55 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I was driving my 78 pax Thomas ER today and it was moderately windy. Bus was empty, and I was doing about 45mph on a 4-lane highway when suddenly a STRONG gust hit it and almost knocked me into the adjacent lane. It made me wonder if school buses are susceptible to being blown over? I've seen tractor trailers and RVs that have gone over in high winds. I know that in some areas in Florida....blow overs happen fairly regularly.

That Thomas has a real light feel to it anyway, so I slowed down. I thought "the wind did it, boss" would be a real hard sell if my bus ended up on it's side!

Anybody ever heard of a school bus getting blown over by crosswinds? (Not talking tornados or hurricanes here...but real strong gusts that can occur out of nowhere)

thomas86_a
Top Member

USA
4413 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2005 :  6:49:51 PM  Show Profile  Visit thomas86_a's Homepage  Send thomas86_a an AOL message  Reply with Quote
I'm sure your AmTran RE's would not have done this in the wind! Better hope for an upgrade next spring!

If you have an International, you NEED customer service.
Go to Top of Page

IC-RE
Top Member

USA
4117 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2005 :  6:52:41 PM  Show Profile  Visit IC-RE's Homepage  Reply with Quote
You read my mind Thomas86 a. LOL, but You can just see our 88 GMC Waynes, they are so unaeordynamic (spelled wrong) pushing through the winds, they are said to hav ethe most reliable engine, the penny pinching 8.2L Detroit Diesel engine, they may be old, but they are the TRUE workhorses in our fleet now that the 87 Intnational 9.0L's are gone!

bus 1980, a 2008 IC RE 300 for Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia.
Go to Top of Page

IC
Top Member

USA
3413 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2005 :  7:10:36 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hey! This is a serious question!

(But, you KNOW I can't pass up a cheap shot at my beloved Thomas!)

Go to Top of Page

JC Theriault
Top Member

Canada
1326 Posts

Posted - 11/22/2005 :  10:25:52 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I can recall an incident here about 10 or 11 years ago where an empty GMC "fishbowl" transit bus ended up crunching the front corner of a car coming in the opposite lane. He was travelling over one of the harbour bridges and one strong wind gust pretty much lifted up the front end of the bus and moved him over the yellow line.

No damage to the car bumper at all like you'd expect in a head-on crash, just a bunch of damage at hood level where the bus bumper landed. Made for great conversation at the charter bus garage the next day as we were in the same union as city transit drivers and word travelled fast.

Now tonight we had very strong winds and rain, bad enough that the bridge commission pulled high-sided vehicles off the 4-lane span where that bus incident occured. Transports had to reroute around the old highway and transit buses took the other bridge which doesn't get the wind quite as bad.

JC

Go to Top of Page

IC RE 1629
Top Member

United States
5097 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2005 :  07:29:11 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I bet our high headroom Thomas ER's and IC's are more at risk during high winds. More surface area for the winds to press against.
Go to Top of Page

baumannj
Senior Member

USA
73 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2005 :  09:57:58 AM  Show Profile  Visit baumannj's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Our Thomas ERs, which have the low skirting option, seem to be very stable driving in high winds. On the other hand, our AmTran REs (which have standard skirting) seem to get blown around a lot more. It was unnerving the first time I drove my AmTran RE on the highway during a fiercely windy day... it felt like the bus was fixing to change lanes on its own without my consent!! Maybe the lower skirting on a bus keeps the wind from having a "lifting" effect as well as a "pushing" effect??

Josh
Visit Josh's School Bus Gallery:
http://schoolbus.lunarpages.com
Go to Top of Page

IC-RE
Top Member

USA
4117 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2005 :  12:40:25 PM  Show Profile  Visit IC-RE's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Our AmTran RE's do have lower skirting then our Thomas's, maybe that is a part of it?

bus 1980, a 2008 IC RE 300 for Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia.
Go to Top of Page

ThomasER0005
Top Member

USA
576 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2005 :  6:09:54 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
My Thomas ER seems to hold on the road pretty darn good while it is windy.

Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
 


School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums © 2022 School Bus Fleet Magazine Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.22 seconds. Snitz Forums 2000