Six Killed In Charter Bus Crash

why , Do anyone know?

 

I've heard that the driver mistook an offramp for a travel lane.

I'm curious as to how long the driver had been driving. It's a little over 600 miles from Bluffton, OH to Atlanta. It's over 1200 miles for the whole trip. If the driver was the same one who started driving, he'd have been at the end of his 10 legal hours when the bus crashed (remember, bus drivers follow the old 10 on/8 off rule). The driver was killed. I'm curious as whether they had a relief driver or not.

 

Here's another article with a picture.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2918652&page=1

 

I find it odd that the bus driver did not realize that he was going up as opposed to straight. It mentioned how he thought the HOV lane was another lane on the freeway, but that lane obviously goes upwards (it's an exit ramp), so wouldn't that strike a driver as odd and for him to possibly slow down? I think their may be more to this story, like possibly driver fatigue. Though the driver was killed in the accident, along with his wife (whom I believe was the other driver), they were both lucky because if they survived, I'm sure they would be spending time in jail (vehicular homicide, reckless driver and who knows what else). Sad.

 

Folks I got to see this one up close....although I was not there immediately after it happened. I was headed out of downtown Atlanta early this morning as it happened.

Here's a few satellite images of the roadway where this happened:

[Image of Northside Drive Interchange]

[Where Left Off-Ramp Begins]

The HOV lane is far left, like most...and there are two exits for Northside Drive. One is a right lane exit for all non-HOV traffic, and there is a left lane exit for all HOV traffic. The HOV lane basically splits, separated only by some white road markings about a half mile before the ramp takes a quick rise upward and then levels out to where there is a stop SIGN....no traffic light. Had he stayed to the right of the road markings, he would have went under the bridge, and stayed in the HOV lane that continued on south on I-75.

You will also notice from the photo, that there is no lighting either at the top of the ramp where the stop sign is located. There are concrete walls that separate all lanes, but not until you are about a quarter of a mile into that ramp.

Looking at the first photo, you will see an arrow. Right about where that arrow points, is where the ramp begins going up. It's very short.

They have already announced an elimination of that theory. It was a husband and wife team, and the husband had taken over about an hour and a half before the crash.

It is sad, but this is a poorly designed off-ramp, in my estimation. I think if you look at what I have offered, you can see that.

Secondly, the people that use the ramp routinely know it. It's a commuter designed ramp. With no traffic lights in play to give warning, combined with the fact that a person traveling for miles in the far left lane, and possibly daydreaming just a little, will continue to follow that left lane.

I don't understand why he was in the HOV lane anyway. There was little traffic. He could have barreled on down the middle lanes with no worries.

According to all the interviews, there was no evidence that he meant to take any exits in Atlanta, so it was not that he intended to exit the interstate, as far as anyone knows. They are going to be looking at the black box to determine if there were any mechanical issues that may have caused him to seek an exit, but it doesn't appear so far, that there was.

He was traveling at highway speeds. He stayed to the left, in error. He saw the up ramp, realized that he was entering an intersection when he saw the stop sign. He absolutely tried to brake and swerve to the right as he entered the intersection, slammed into the opposing wall six lanes across Northside Drive, then the bus rolled left, jumped the wall (it was intact). The bus did a catapault over the wall, and slammed down on it's left side on the roadway below, basically in the HOV lane that he SHOULD have continued on, had he not taken the exit.

This was by all definitions an accident. The exit is marked, but put yourself in his shoes. He wasn't paying attention to signage, because he was not looking to exit. He was simply staying in that left lane. The fact that it is unlit, in my opinion, will place the city of Atlanta in a very bad situation. I think that they will ultimately come to bear this cross.

 

You make some very valid points. Also, by looking at the satelitte images, I can see how one could mistake that lane for just another lane on the freeway. I was sitting here staring at the images and it confused me, so I can only imagine how it would be driving on that road for the first time. We've all been to places where we didn't understand the signage and roads at first, it happens. Like you said, this was an accident, a costly one at that. I also heard that the drivers were switched shortly prior to the accident, so that didn't play a factor (like you mentioned as well).

We all make mistakes and it's common on the roads, especially when you are driving somewhere you are not too familiar with. Being a Canuck, I rarely see exit ramps on the left side of the road.

I do tip my hats off to bus drivers, as they have to worry about transporting people from place to place and getting them there safe. We worry about our goods, but transporting a young baseball team full of excited athletes has to be nerve racking. I know I couldn't do it, I have a hard time driving around with friends, I can't imagine driving across country with 50 or so passengers and putting their lives in my hands.

 

Was the husband on the bus from the beginning? The reason I ask is that I did some research on bus sleeper berth use in the US (since they are frequently utilized in Mexico, Europe and Souh America and it was my understanding that a relief bus driver that is in the passenger area is still considered "on duty-not driving", not "off duty" and the only way to be "off duty" would to be inside some sort of sleeper berth.

In Mexico and Europe, they utilize small sleeper berths like this one:




for driving teams. I don't know about Europe and South America but in Mexico, team bus drivers run on a 6 hrs driving/6 hrs sleeper schedule.

As for bus sleeper berth use in the US, there wasn't enough interest in the industry for sleepers and the DOT took no action on specifying a design, only requiring that the meet the basic requirements of truck sleepers (not built into the luggage hold/cargo area, direct connection to the driver/passenger area, emergency exits, etc.)

 

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I am assuming that because they were husband and wife, that they were together from the start of the trip, and that there was a sleeper berth on the bus. There has been no mention in the press releases as to whether or not that bus was equipped with a sleeper berth, which was one of the things I pondered yesterday, because it has always been my understanding that there would have to be one, in order for them to switch driving tasks legally.

The spokesmen for both the NTSB and the FMCSA have clearly stated that fatigue was not an issue in the crash, and that I found to be strange to be offered so early on in the investigation, but it may be that they have already confirmed that all was legal in that department. It may also be that the wife was actually in the sleeper compartment at the time of the crash.

It has been offered in the press that this couple were very experienced drivers and had been working for the company for an "established period of time".

The company in question, Executive Coach Luxury Travel Inc. has refused to speak with any reporters, and has issued a very brief comment on it's website...

http://www.executivecoachlti.com/index.htm

This is one of the best bus companies I have run across in terms of safety data. Their Safer data is unreproachable. They have an ISS-2 rating of 11. None of their drivers have received any citations for moving violations in over two years. Not one out-of-service order in the last 30 months. There are no accidents listed for the past THREE years. They are squeaky clean.