By This is not the ideal way for new soldiers to be welcomed to Korea:
Nine soldiers were injured Wednesday when the tour bus they were in struck a second bus that was stopped at a red light in Uijeongbu, South Korea.
The soldiers, newly arrived members of the 2nd Infantry Division, were returning from an orientation tour of the Uijeongbu area.
They were returning to the Warrior Readiness Center In-processing Station at Camp Stanley when the collision occurred, said 2nd ID spokesman Maj. Vince Mitchell.
According to Uijeongbu police, three tour buses approached the intersection as the light was changing. The first bus made it through the intersection, but the second had to stop at the red light. The third bus didn’t stop in time and rear-ended the second.
Nine soldiers received minor injuries to their knees, backs and legs.
Police said the injured soldiers were taken immediately to St. Peters Hospital in Uijeongbu and treated.
Mitchell said they were released the same day.
“The accident is certainly the mistake of the bus driver driving the third bus, who failed to maintain a safe distance with the bus in front of him,” police said.
As of Thursday, police said, the investigation was still ongoing, and it’s unknown if the bus driver will face charges or be forced to pay fines. [Stars & Stripes]
1:30 pm on February 28th, 2009 1
"The accident is certainly the mistake of the bus driver driving the third bus, who failed to maintain a safe distance with the bus in front of him," police said.
"Nine soldiers received minor injuries to their knees, backs and legs."
The accident may be the driver's fault, but where will the blame fall for the injuries? If those nine injured soldiers weren't wearing a seat belt, that should be on their head. (That is, if the bus even had seat belts. And if it didn't, that falls on MWR or whoever rented the bus.)
9:10 am on March 1st, 2009 2
I’ve never seen a bus in the ROK with seat belts. I know I would have worn them if they were offered…I’d get an adrenaline rush every time I rode in one. Those drivers are insane!
12:35 pm on March 1st, 2009 3
The day before this story was reported in Stars and Stripes, there was another story entitled Town hall meeting at Camp Casey addresses rules of road. Mandatory refresher training for Korean employees who drive on post at Camps Casey and Red Cloud.
I had a gut feeling these two stories might be related because of something I investigated in the past. I noticed a while back, while driving in Korea, that I find myself in situations where I am traveling at the correct speed, but I have very little time or space decide to stop safely when the light turns yellow. Example: there are places where the speed is 60 km/h (about 40 m/h) but the time from the yellow light to red light is 3 seconds! I timed it. I found out that the emergency stopping distance at that speed is about 150 feet for most cars. I noticed that sometimes I am much closer to the intersection than that when I see the yellow light. So my choice is to attempt a more aggressive stop considering the other cars behind me or be somewhere near or in the intersection when the light turns red.
These buss probably wanted to maintain their convoy and they would have under normal customs off base.
What if, after coming from rules of the road training the day before, the second buss driver was more concerned about driving through a red light than he normally would have been because he had a load of GIs who might have complained. So, he opted for an aggressive stop at the sight of a yellow light. The third buss driver probably couldn't see the yellow traffic light because his line of sight was obstructed by the second buss. His first sign of trouble was a quickly decelerating buss in front him. Factor in surprise and reaction time, then failure to maintain a safe distance may not have been the only problem here.