Like many commuting into the city I found myself stuck in a traffic snarl heading south on Northside drive after exiting I-75. I was heading to my cut through on Deering over to Peachtree. Looking ahead I spotted the problem. A large bus wrapped in bold decals of the Detroit Pistons was partially blocking the northbound lane. Hung up by its rear which had bottomed out and ground the bus to a halt, the rear end poked out into one lane of Northside Drive.

When you look at the slideshow it's clear that the driver of the bus had a much worse start than most.

After working my way around the traffic, I pulled into a parking lot and walked back to the mishap. I snapped some photos on my iPhone for wsbtv.com. Then, I found the driver sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for the wrecker who could not arrive soon enough. The situation reminded me of a current commercial campaign that uses a punch line, "Wanna get away?"

The driver, who works for a Detroit bus service called Blue Lakes, was on his way to Orlando, traveling with another companion bus.

The two buses were carrying a high school band to a competition. What happened?

"I didn't mean to get off here," he said after climbing down to speak with me. "I was in the HOV lane and the next thing I knew, I was going up a ramp to a stop sign. I turned right and started looking for a place to turn around," he said.

Unfortunately for him, he picked a parking lot that was on a steep incline, steep enough to grab the back end of the bus and grind him to a halt.

I asked him if he knew about the tragedy that happened just over two years ago at that very same exit. "I have been told," he said, shaking his head. "I can absolutely see how that could happen. I had no idea that I was in an exit lane." He did see the stop signs and markers on the lane itself once he was going up the ramp.

"The tough part of it is," he added. "The officer wrote me a ticket for impeding traffic." His companion driver turned around further up the road without incident.