Monday evening I caught the 5:15 bus back to Simsbury. I didn’t recognize the driver as I got on, but that in itself isn’t too unusual. By the time we were on the main road out of downtown Hartford, it was apparant that something was not right. The driver had already made several blatent traffic errors and his driving was erratic. Approaching an intersection, he suddenly slammed on the brakes. Again, not too out of the ordinary. I’ve had other drivers do this before when something unexpected occurred. A block later, he slammed them on again. I was not in a good position for this one. I had leaned down to put my book back in my bag (I’d finished it) when he slammed them on the 2nd time. I went flying head/shoulder first into one of the metal hand-hold bars between seats. Ouch!
By the time we’d gotten out of the city and we about to make the turn onto the road to Simsbury, we were all getting worried. That’s when the real shock came as he almost missed the turn and again slammed on the brakes (we were all ready this time) and stopped in the middle of the intersection. He then threw the bus in reverse (on a main road mind you) and without checking behind him, backed up to make the turn. We could clearly hear all of the car horns behind us.
Headed down the next road, we were going approximately 70mph in a 25 zone. At the next turn, I thought for sure he was going to tip the bus over as we took it going WAY too fast. By the time we reached the next major intersection, we were all afraid for our lives. He paid no attention (at first) to the red light and then slammed on the brakes a little too late and skidded into the middle of the intersection. Cars we trying to get around us and we heard many honks. After the light turned green, he then decided to make sure we were stopped as we didn’t get going until it was almost red again. At this point, one of the passengers at the front of the bus got up to ask him if he was ok. From where I was sitting, he sounded belligerent, and said he was fine. The passenger pressed him, but all he did was jam down on the gas which forced the passenger back into his seat.
To get back into Simsbury, we have to drive over Talcott “mountain”. Coming down from the peak is a semi-steep descent and you can get going pretty fast in your vehicle. For us passengers, this was our final moment of terror as we saw vehicles going in the opposite direction pulling over to get out of the bus’s way. We did make it to the park and ride without any major accidents, but I think he hit the little shack you can wait in when he pulled up to it.
Tuesday morning I made sure to send a letter of complaint to the bus management, but what was really interesting was that I found out that at least 5 people called the police on him. From what I hear, the police were waiting for him at the next stop in downtown Simsbury.
Craziness huh? I’m waiting to get in to the doc to see if my back is ok.
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