By Joni Tomson Santa Monica
I wonder if deputy city attorney Debra Kanoff would still be “wondering if the incident ever occurred in light of the bus driver never having come forward to claim responsibility,” (SMDP, June 15, page 1) if she knew that this is not the first time a bus driver has done this. A few years back, I was driving down Santa Monica Boulevard with three children in my car and stopped for a pedestrian. The Big Blue Bus behind me rear ended my car, sending drinks and food flying. I had to send my car to the repair shop with $1,600 of damage and see a chiropractor for some time.
The Big Blue Bus driver had pulled over and yelled at me for stopping for the pedestrian. Apparently, bus drivers must be exempt from that. I asked to see his license and he said all I needed was the bus number. I was very upset since I had kids in the car and was not thinking properly when I followed his instruction and wrote the bus number down and went home. I phoned the bus company and my insurance company and reported the incident to both. I thought that this would be the end of it, but the bus company refused to pay my insurance company. I hired an attorney and I was told by my attorney that the Big Blue Bus was saying that the incident never occurred and that we could not prove that it did. The bus driver bullied me into believing all I had to do was write the bus number down and time of incident and it would be taken care of. He obviously denied hit-ting me, which according to this article, is “against policy and carries consequences.”
Shame on the Big Blue Bus for not taking responsibility for my accident and any others it has bullied its way out of.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 21, 2006. Read the original PDF.