Guardrails, they really work! In case you ever wondered if those metal bars lining overpasses and bridges can actually save a life or two, look no further then the above picture. If it weren't for that guardrail that 20-ton bus—which happened to be carrying the minor league Williamsport Crosscutters from their 7-2 victory against the Brooklyn Cyclones—very well could have ended up smack in the middle of the Staten Island Expressway a little after 11 p.m. last night.
"The bus ricocheted off the SUV and went up the guardrail, straddling the center of the guardrail," a man at the scene told the Staten Island Advance. "Two more feet to the left and it would have fallen down onto the Expressway. It was definitely their lucky day."
The accident occurred after the bus took a wrong turn onto the Verrazano and was trying to get back to the bridge to Brooklyn. On an overpass over the Expressway the bus collided with a Lexus SUV and nearly went over the railing. In the end six people on the bus suffered minor injuries but the Crosscutters still managed to start their noon game against the Cyclones today on time. The Advance reports that at least three people, "terrified that the bus would go through the guardrail and topple onto the Expressway below, scrambled through the windows."
The SUV that the bus collided with had two people in it, who are both doing okay. They claim that the bus had run a red light, but the NYPD has not been able to confirm that allegation yet.
