Updated: Sam sent us this photo of an accident on Tuesday morning on NW 85th St and 6th Ave NW involving a Metro bus on route 48, a truck and a ladder.
“A truck lost his ladder and flew through a Metro bus’s windshield,” Sam writes, “Another two feet or traveling any faster the bus driver may have been seriously injured!!” Metro Spokeswoman Linka Thielke tells our sister site, PhinneyWood.com, that the ladder apparently flew off the truck when it changed lanes as it passed the bus on the left. Thielke said the bus driver was shaken up but not injured. Passengers caught the following bus.
Ladder flies through bus windshield
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
that is absolutely crazy!
I hope the truck driver gets a big, fat fine (and they don’t give him/her the ladder back)
wow!
I saw the hole in the window of the bus as I was headed to the upholstery place there. The guy I spoke with wasn’t sure weather the ladder had actually come off of the truck, or if the truck and bus had actually made physical contact.
Sam – did you see the accident happen or talk to someone who did? Just curious how it occurred. Yow!
Read Ballard’s, Peggy Sturvant’s book, Out Of Nowhere a page turner related to finding, suddenly, ladders thru windshields.
Maria Federici
the morning shows were running a similar spot this morning about a 2×4 plunging through a windshield and it was caught on tape. one of the shows then highlighted maria’s story. the findings to this should be interesting.
There’s more info over on PhinneyWood (dot) com. Apparently the ladder flew off a Comcast truck which was overtaking the bus. Glad nobody hurt, could have been very bad.
Thanks, Al! I’ll go look.
Over 20 years ago, an unsecured ladder swung out and hit a pedestrian on the Ballard Bridge. That pedestrian was a young mother and the actress that did the Safeway Commercials at the time. Days later her young husband had to make the tragic decision to end life support. He was left with two very small boys. A law was written at that time mandating that laders be securred in at least two places when carried in an open vehicle. I hope the drive of this truck gets the book thown at him.
didn’t the fire department recently drop a hose on their way to a fire?
were they ever charged with maria’s law?
The hose didn’t hit anyone. At most they could be cited for an unsecured load.
Bus drivers are unsung heroes. I’ve witnessed many instances where, if not for their nimble driving, a major accident would have occurred due to some clueless doofus in a car, apparently blind to the existence of the bus. Then, more often than not, they get yelled at by one or more of the passengers, who did not see the road hazard, but were jostled by the driver’s sudden defensive driving moves. And, of course, there’s the abuse some passengers hurl their way. Be kind to your bus drivers! And: Thank you, bus drivers!
I jog over the Ballard Bridge every night and remember that story when I was young. She was a beautiful brunette that did the commercials. I am always looking for what is coming, never jog with my back to traffic.
Had a similar incident about 4 years ago driving on I-5 south just north of Burlington. I was in the inside lane parallel with a semi when the ladder on the truck in front of me flew off its rack going around a turn. Luckily I was far enough back and the ladder took a lucky bounce away from me and the semi to avert an accident but I thought I was going to eat the divider for a split second. The stupid rednecks in the truck just kept on driving but the semi got their attention and I put them in my dust.
The law inquestion – specifically, was known as Lucy’s Law and pre-dates the Maria’s Law by more than a couple decades.