Turning accidents are a substantial subset of all public transportation accidents and incidents. The handful of principles generally violated in turning accidents is relatively simple. At the same time, many of them would not likely come to mind to someone outside the passenger transportation field. This website focuses on turning accidents, from the perspective of long-time expert witness and consultant Ned Einstein, president of Transportation Alternatives.
Not for no reason, many turning accidents involve vehicles with long wheelbases—most commonly school buses (because there are far more of them) and transit buses (because their schedules are almost always too tight). Even with automobiles, more collisions occur at intersections than elsewhere else. But the challenges are much greater with vehicles with long wheelbases, since the path taken by the rear tires—in a proper “square” turn—is not the same as that taken by the front tires. Further complicating turns for long vehicles is the fact that many intersections and their elements (placement of limit lines, sharp right angles of corners, etc.) are not well designed to accommodate turns made by these vehicles.
