On Wednesday morning, September 9, the driver of an intercity bus in Estonia became ill and lost consciousness at the wheel. The bus had already entered the opposite lane, but thanks to the quick reaction of a passenger, the driver and 30 passengers escaped the tragedy, the Postimees portal reports.
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Lilija usually does not travel by bus – from her village to Tartu a woman usually drives a car, but tomorrow the conditions were different.
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“I had to pick up a car from the city, so it was one of the few times a year I got to use the bus,” says Lily.
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The incident took place on the Go Bus, which was mostly used by the elderly in the morning.
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“You should have seen these gentlemen and ladies! They sat there so nicely,” the woman recalls.
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Near Tartu, turning left, Lily heard a loud scream. It was a woman’s girlfriend, Marika, who was sitting behind the driver so she could watch the road during the trip.
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“The bus just crossed an elevated pedestrian crossing and moved off the road. It was clear that something was wrong.
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We were afraid that we would enter people or a ditch.
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I knew that Lily had a driver ‘s license, so I called her to run for help, “says Marika.
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Lily was sitting in the last row of the bus.
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“I raised my head and saw that we were already in the opposite lane and driving towards five or six cars. I jumped to my feet and ran to the driver,” she says.
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The woman remembers that the driver had lost consciousness and leaned against the corner.
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I pressed the brake pedal with one hand and the rake with the other.
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The situation was very complicated, because the driver could not be moved, but his foot had depressed the accelerator pedal, so the bus continued to drive, “recalls Lily.
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The bus drove to the curb and passed the red traffic light.
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“For a moment I had to stop braking because we were driving up the hill, but there were several trucks behind us. We would have run into each other, so
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for about 300 – 400 meters I had to control the pedals, the steering wheel on all fours and see what was happening on the road to stop the bus safely, “she explains.
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The woman managed to stop it at the cemetery, and when she got up, everyone was just looking at her.
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“They were just sitting there. I called someone to call an ambulance, but everyone was frozen,” she says.
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“We were all a little shocked and I don’t want to think what would have happened if Lily had taken the next bus,” says Marika’s girlfriend.
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The woman does not consider her actions to be anything special.
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“I’m not a hero. I act instinctively, there was simply no time for reflection,” she explains.
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Andrejs Mendla, a member of the board of Go Bus, says that in his practice there are no such cases with a happy ending. He also admits that, fortunately, no driver has been so bad at the wheel so far.
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“We are very grateful to Lily. She probably saved the life of the driver of this bus, who would have suffered the most as a result of the frontal collision,” he says.
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A bus passenger believes that a woman deserves an award.
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“That’s all that happened … Without her, we would be in a ditch,” said the passenger.
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