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The “Hit by a Bus” Supercut

hit by a busIn some software and engineering projects, the question is sometimes raised: “What if [some key person] is hit by a bus?”. It’s a morbid way of putting it, but the concern raised is a valid one: does the success of this project hang on one or a few key people?

The question has been asked often enough for there to be a Wikipedia entry on the topic. It’s the “bus factor”, and it’s described as “total number of key developers who would need to be incapacitated (as by getting hit by a bus/truck) to send the project into such disarray that it would not be able to proceed”.

Another place in which “hit by a bus” is used as a trope is in television and the movies. It’s a way to suddenly, horribly, often comedically, and quite literally take a character out of the picture. Harry Hanrahan, a YouTube-famous maker of “supercut” videos, has assembled 93 “hit by a bus” scenes from various TV shows and movies into a very painful but still funny montage that runs for almost twelve and a half collision-laden minutes. Listed below are the shows and movies from which each “hit by a bus” snippet was taken, and when they appear in the supercut:

  1. 0:00 – 0:17 Ghost Town
  2. 0:17 – 0:23 The Brothers Solomon
  3. 0:23 – 0:38 Final Destination
  4. 0:38 – 0:46 Mean Girls
  5. 0:46 – 0:54 Nip/Tuck (4×06)
  6. 0:54 – 1:03 The Black Donnellys (1×02.5)
  7. 1:03 – 1:10 Lost (3×07)
  8. 1:10 – 1:14 Dead Like Me (2×05)
  9. 1:14 – 1:23 Supernatural (6×17)
  10. 1:23 – 1:29 Ghost Town
  11. 1:29 – 1:37 Skins (1×09)
  12. 1:37 – 1:47 Felicity (1×13)
  13. 1:47 – 1:59 The Hard Times of RJ Berger (1×11)
  14. 1:59 – 2:09 Eastbound & Down (3×08)
  15. 2:09 – 2:19 Hot Rod
  16. 2:19 – 2:29 Scary Movie 4
  17. 2:29 – 2:40 Dan For Mayor (1×01)
  18. 2:40 – 2:46 30 Rock (7×07)
  19. 2:46 – 2:55 Dead Like Me (1×02)
  20. 2:55 – 2:59 Lost (5×16)
  21. 2:59 – 3:09 Lost (1×14)
  22. 3:09 – 3:17 How I Met Your Mother (3×20)
  23. 3:17 – 3:25 Girls (1×10)
  24. 3:25 – 3:33 The Final Destination (FD4)
  25. 3:33 – 3:42 The Orphanage (El orfanato)
  26. 3:42 – 3:50 End of Days
  27. 3:50 – 3:57 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (5×12)
  28. 3:57 – 4:03 Stargate SG-1 (10×15)
  29. 4:03 – 4:11 The Tournament
  30. 4:11 – 4:18 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (1×01)
  31. 4:18 – 4:27 Fringe (1×03)
  32. 4:27 – 4:32 Dawn of the Dead (2004)
  33. 4:32 – 4:38 Fringe (4×08)
  34. 4:38 – 4:43 The Viral Factor (Jik zin)
  35. 4:43 – 4:50 Taken
  36. 4:50 – 5:00 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (1×02)
  37. 5:00 – 5:07 Death Race (2008)
  38. 5:07 – 5:15 Stranger Than Fiction
  39. 5:15 – 5:25 Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
  40. 5:25 – 5:32 Tattoo (2002)
  41. 5:32 – 5:38 The Devil’s Rejects
  42. 5:38 – 5:45 Meet Joe Black
  43. 5:45 – 5:53 Constantine
  44. 5:53 – 6:08 One Day
  45. 6:08 – 6:14 Identity
  46. 6:14 – 6:22 The Air I Breathe
  47. 6:22 – 6:27 The X-Files (4×19)
  48. 6:27 – 6:32 Lost (4×11)
  49. 6:32 – 6:40 Accident (Yi ngoi)
  50. 6:40 – 6:50 Fringe (3×03)
  51. 6:50 – 6’59 Ghosthouse (La Casa 3)
  52. 6:59 – 7’07 Crossing Jordan (4×17)
  53. 7:07 – 7:17 Chances Are
  54. 7:17 – 7:25 Star Trek (‘City on the Edge of Forever’)
  55. 7:25 – 7:32 Identity
  56. 7:32 – 7:39 The Devil’s Advocate
  57. 7:39 – 7:52 Stuck
  58. 7:52 – 8:00 The Exorcism of Emily Rose
  59. 8:00 – 8:10 Kick-Ass
  60. 8:10 – 8:18 Margaret
  61. 8:18 – 8:24 Lovers of the Arctic Circle
  62. 8:24 – 8:30 Futurama (6×17)
  63. 8:30 – 8:37 Scary Movie 3
  64. 8:37 – 8:45 Crossing Jordan (6×06)
  65. 8:45 – 8:51 Monk (8×04)
  66. 8:51 – 8:56 Bag of Bones (TV)
  67. 8:56 – 9:02 Supernatural (2×05)
  68. 9:02 – 9:09 Scary Movie 2
  69. 9:09 – 9:14 Journeyman (1×01)
  70. 9:14 – 9:18 Little Nicky
  71. 9:18 – 9:23 Little Nicky
  72. 9:23 – 9:29 RoboCop
  73. 9:29 – 9:37 Bride of Chucky
  74. 9:37 – 9:42 Welcome to Collinwood
  75. 9:42 – 9:50 Run Lola Run
  76. 9:50 – 9:55 Bubble Boy
  77. 9:55 – 10:03 Not Another Teen Movie
  78. 10:03 – 10:13 The Salton Sea
  79. 10:13 – 10:18 Kicked In The Head
  80. 10:18 – 10:24 Snatch
  81. 10:24 – 10:33 Day Watch (Dnevnoy dozor)
  82. 10:33 – 10:42 Chronicle
  83. 10:42 – 10:52 Scary Movie
  84. 10:52 – 11:04 My Name Is Earl (1×01)
  85. 11:04 – 11:09 30 Rock (7×07)
  86. 11:09 – 11:17 The Comebacks
  87. 11:17 – 11:24 South Park (9×04)
  88. 11:24 – 11:29 Family Guy (10×20)
  89. 11:29 – 11:36 The Simpsons (2×10)
  90. 11:36 – 11:45 Life on Mars (US) (1×01)
  91. 11:45 – 11:51 Life on Mars (UK) (1×01)
  92. 11:51 – 12:02 Superbad
  93. 12:02 – 12:23 The Comebacks

I’ll bet that you look both ways — twice — before crossing the street after watching this video.

2 replies on “The “Hit by a Bus” Supercut”

Given how many of these people were just standing there, not jumping out into traffic at the last second … those are some pretty shitty bus drivers. 🙂

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