I think it depends on delivery.

I don't think an atomic bomb in a vehicle parked on or near the ground can do the amount of damage that one detonated X number of feet above the ground can do.

Sue

I think it has been answered before: You do what you have to do.

I'd like to think I would rise to the occation - we all would like to be a hero of a hypothetical situation, won't we? I hope I never need to find out...




Go for it! The biggest challenge is not operating a vehicle with automatic transmission - but learning how a big vehicle responds to turning, braking and acceleration. Nice and easy does it, no jerking and go much slower around sharp corners than you think is nescessary. If you do you'll see no problem at all. Push the boundaries of the vehicle and you'll see why there is a much longer process to get a license for it...

qjs wrote
>If you are where fallout is dropping; that plan is suicide. Get >out of the open and ideally into a cellar. Forget going anywhere.

Just to disagree with myself here (who says I'm argumentative?) :-).

In reality would any sane person follow this advice? That was always the folly in fall out shelters. Who would not go to look after loved ones instead? As Tip O'Neill said when told about the nuclear shelter for congress "They are expecting me to go there and leave my wife outside? That is the craziest thing I've ever heard".

Incidentally the West Virginia hotel that was congresses shelter hid it in plain site. It had 2 conference rooms (behind massive doors hidden in the walls). One sat 100 people and the other 435. How about that?
qjs

I believe in the GHB (get home bag) concept of preparation for this scenario and many other mass destruction urban scenarios.

IMO:

1. 'Fallout' consists of fine radioactive dust particles, and it travels on the wind like any other dust that size. Travel upwind to avoid it

2. There will be no consensus on the bus. The most agressive/armed person will take it. Get out and walk back to your car

3. The bus doesn't matter anyway as the roads will quickly become impassible, again; get out and walk to your car and turn on the radio

4. Get to your GHB with it's water, heavy clothing, boots, poncho, tarp etc and walk home if home is upwind. If it is late afternoon, prepare to hide at night.

5. If home is downwind, consider staying with your parked car, moving it slightly for shade, security, etc, or walk to find safe shelter (large store, office building, etc) upwind depending on circumstances.

6. Don't depend on a police officer to stroll by and inquire as to your well-being. It's not going to happen anytime soon.

7. You will be responsible for your own security. Ally with someone, trading the shelter of your car for the security of two or more. There is a tradeoff here. Do not think that just because you own the car, they will submit to your direction. Choose your ally carefully.

It's difficult to phrase this problem in a way that isn't tautological. If it would be stupid not to take the bus, then I guess I'd take the bus.

That said, I am pretty law-abiding by nature, and I wouldn't expect that to change much. My instinctive reaction is to suppose the person best able to drive the bus is the bus driver. I'd hesitate to assume he'd abandoned it. Ideally, I'd talk to him before he left. If he plans to get his family and some supplies, return to the bus and lead an evacuation, maybe the best thing I can do is help him carry out that plan.

If he's genuinely abandoned it, then it becomes a resource. However, I am short-sighted, so I'd probably be one of the people least able to drive safely. I'd be more likely to try it if I were alone then if I was putting other passengers at risk. I wouldn't normally drive my own car without my glasses, let alone a bus.

I'm also not very social. It sounded like you wanted to help all the other passengers reach their loved ones. I would hesitate before taking on that responsibility. I'd also hesitate before taking a bus for my own use that someone else could use to save the lives of others - I'm not actively evil. But given the choice, I'd rather strike out on my own than take charge of other people or let someone else take charge of me. Last thing I want is an argument about where to go. That's bad enough when we're discussing which pub to go to.

In a fallout situation, the bus would be a reasonable shelter. Fallout is dust that you don't want on your skin (or inside you). The bus will help to keep it off. It'd be better to get indoors, but it sounds like the bus driver hasn't invited his bus-load of passengers into his home and I'd hesitate to force myself upon his hospitality. Much here depends on the details. Generally, the profile I'd expect is a period of all-clear before the fallout arrives, followed by a period of high risk, that gradually tails off as the radioactivity decays. The nice thing about radioactivity is that the nastiest stuff also has the shortest half-life. If you can get to a better shelter in the window before the fallout arrives, that's good, otherwise waiting in the bus for, say, 2 days might be better.

I'd expect the bus to have some communications, and maybe a first aid kit and possibly other resources.

One advantage of a bus is that it could transport more people in a single vehicle, a good idea in a mass exodus.


These buses have a radio, a fire extinguisher and several means of emergency escape but that is all of the emergency equipment that I know of.

Jeanette Isabelle

Here's one town (or part of it's population) that doesn't seem to want to do anything differently after an disaster. FEMA isn't being allowed to loan trailers to t ose left homeless. Sounds a little too inflexible to me:

http://us.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=26033&external=936297.proteus.fma

+1

I don’t think anyone here wants to be a victim, and as MH added to his post:



However, there are also times when you must accept your limitations. Could I drive the bus? Maybe, maybe not. Should I put others in jeopardy to find out? I don’t think so, IMHO. Do I have the training to deal with the aftermath of a nuclear incident? Definitely not. Assuming I survived the initial blast, my first thought would be to get away (after gathering DW and DS that is), and then get someplace where we could be treated for the exposure to the radiation. TBH, I am not even sure if this is the right thing to do or not. It seems to me I am sounding an awful lot like your theoretical bus driver. Hmmmm.

I am sure there are many, many other situations we could dream up where we might be tempted to do something above and beyond the call of duty. But don’t you also think we have to remember that whatever we do, it should be within the boundaries of our personal capabilities? I suppose this goes without saying but just thought I should mention it anyway. YMMV.