six killed when charter bus plunges off overpass

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ATLANTA -- At least six people have died after a charter bus fell off an off-ramp and onto Interstate 75 in Atlanta. The parent of a Bluffton University baseball player tells News 11 that the bus carrying the team crashed around 5:30 this morning.

Bluffton University is just south and west of Findlay, or about 60 miles south and west of Toledo.

<snip>

The parent tells News 11 that the players were on their way to spring training in Florida. There were 33 from the university and 2 drivers on the bus. The parent says the team left at 7:00pm Thursday night.

The Bluffton University web page says the team was on its way to the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Meyers, Florida. The Bluffton Beavers play their homes games at Sears Field in Bluffton.

more at link http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=6166665
 
Just heard that the coach and at least two of the students are in surgery right now. Twenty-nine people were injured in addition to those killed. This is so sad. Yesterday the tornado hit the school in Alabama, and now this involving young people. My prayers are for all these young people and their families. Also, for anyone else hurt by these events.
 
This happened right up the street from me. Unbelievably sad. I keep wondering how the bus went over the overpass like this but I guess we will know more after they investigate the site. Traffic was literally at a standstill on this main route to downtown Atlanta.

Lots of photos at this link: http://www.ajc.com/

My love and prayers to all of the families.
 
I just saw on the news (CNN based in Atlanta) that the bus accidently got on an offramp that is very poorly marked. It was 5:30 am (still dark), he had been driving several hours, and the bus would have had difficulty braking in time for what I understood to be a sharp turn on the ramp (I came in at the middle of the report and was confused about that last bit).
 
Cypros said:
I just saw on the news (CNN based in Atlanta) that the bus accidently got on an offramp that is very poorly marked. It was 5:30 am (still dark), he had been driving several hours, and the bus would have had difficulty braking in time for what I understood to be a sharp turn on the ramp (I came in at the middle of the report and was confused about that last bit).
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I get off that exit almost every day, and I suspect the bus driver thought the HOV Lane was one of those bypass lanes that just keep going, allowing his to bypass traffic into the city. Many of the Atlanta HOV lanes are like that. This one is actually an exit ramp, he needed to stop and turn right or left. From what I understand, he actually tried really hard to turn once he realized what was happening, and the bus was just scraping up against the concrete barrier until the barrier finally gave way, and they went over the side.

Atlanta has horrible signage, etc. I would not be surprised to see this blamed on the city as much as anyone.
 
Cypros said:
I just saw on the news (CNN based in Atlanta) that the bus accidently got on an offramp that is very poorly marked. It was 5:30 am (still dark), he had been driving several hours, and the bus would have had difficulty braking in time for what I understood to be a sharp turn on the ramp (I came in at the middle of the report and was confused about that last bit).
Click to expand...

It was an HOV lane at Northside Dr. It is in the middle of northbound and southbound and confusing to us much less anyone who is not familiar with it. I believe he was trying to correct to stay on I 75 south and couldn't in time and causing the bus to be over corrected at the top of the ramp. Fairly short ramp for a bus. Such a sad situation.
 
How incredibly sad. Just a bunch of nice college athletes headed to spring training.

You just never know when it's going to be your time to go. :(

My thought and prayers go out to the players, coaches, their families and friends and everyone else affected by this tragedy. :(
 
6 dead in bus crash, college team aboard A charter bus carrying a college baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing six people, injuring 29 and scattering sports equipment across the road, authorities said.


The bus, carrying the team from the close-knit, Mennonite-affiliated Bluffton University, toppled off the Northside Drive bridge onto a pickup truck on Interstate 75 shortly before dawn, police spokesman Joe Cobb said.

"It looked to me like a big slab of concrete falling down," said truck driver Danny Lloyd, 57, of Frostburg, Md. "I didn't recognize it was a bus. I think when I saw the thing coming, I think I closed my eyes and stepped on the gas."

The impact broke his windshield, pushed his truck into the concrete and wrecked the front bumper, but Lloyd wasn't injured.

Four students, the bus driver and the bus driver's wife were killed, said police Maj. Calvin Moss.

Much more at link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_re_us/georgia_bus_wreck_26&printer=1


 
robinparten said:
I get off that exit almost every day, and I suspect the bus driver thought the HOV Lane was one of those bypass lanes that just keep going, allowing his to bypass traffic into the city. Many of the Atlanta HOV lanes are like that. This one is actually an exit ramp, he needed to stop and turn right or left. From what I understand, he actually tried really hard to turn once he realized what was happening, and the bus was just scraping up against the concrete barrier until the barrier finally gave way, and they went over the side.

Atlanta has horrible signage, etc. I would not be surprised to see this blamed on the city as much as anyone.
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Now I know that no one will believe this but I pass that ramp each and every day on my drive home and I thought on a couple of occassions that if someone was not paying attention in a motorhome, they would just launch themselves right onto the interstate. Only it happened with a bus.

It is an hov only exit and it is extremely extremely short, especially for a bus. I would bet that that if he did immediately recognize it, he would have a pretty hard time stopping if he were at full interstate speed.

This is definitely a case of the driver not being aware but probably the real fault lies with the design. I don't know who is in charge of this crap but they are brain dead.

For instance, we used to have an on-ramp that came up to the interstate and parallelled it for a long distance. Gave people time to get on in heavy traffic. They redesigned it and now it comes into the interstate at about a 30+ degree angle and there is zero running lane parallel to the interstate. The result? Lots of accidents and interstate traffic stops when anyone is getting on the interstate.

Idiots in GA DOT!

Cal
 
calus_3 said:
Now I know that no one will believe this but I pass that ramp each and every day on my drive home and I thought on a couple of occassions that if someone was not paying attention in a motorhome, they would just launch themselves right onto the interstate. Only it happened with a bus.

It is an hov only exit and it is extremely extremely short, especially for a bus. I would bet that that if he did immediately recognize it, he would have a pretty hard time stopping if he were at full interstate speed.

This is definitely a case of the driver not being aware but probably the real fault lies with the design. I don't know who is in charge of this crap but they are brain dead.

For instance, we used to have an on-ramp that came up to the interstate and parallelled it for a long distance. Gave people time to get on in heavy traffic. They redesigned it and now it comes into the interstate at about a 30+ degree angle and there is zero running lane parallel to the interstate. The result? Lots of accidents and interstate traffic stops when anyone is getting on the interstate.

Idiots in GA DOT!

Cal[/QUOT

I agree with you completely. Atlanta' DOT is really bad, and even locals get confused, much less people just driving through. I have been in many cities that do a MUCH better job at this, it can be done, with the right people and resources. Atlanta has the money, if we could only stop the corruption.
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The problem with these HOV exits is that you either have to make the exit to the left, which is obviously confusing to out-of-towners OR you have to make the exit on the right with everyone else, which means that you have to get across 4 or 5 lanes to exit. That is not always easy in Atlanta traffic. I don't think Atlanta is the only city that has these left side exits. IIRC, Miami has some like this as well.

I think the left exit makes sense, and it has always been clear to me what I'm supposed to do, but I grew up driving here. Maybe my brain is as screwed up as the Atlanta DOT!!

Lots of people say they have made this same mistake, but in a car you have time to stop and figure it out. Looks like this driver didn't realize until it was way too late. Atlanta media are reporting that there are no skid marks.

Regardless, it is horrific. I can't imagine the parents getting that phone call.
 
I've read no skidmarks - obviously he didn't recognize what this was until a little past the last minute. I also read there was blood on the top of the overpass - like maybe someone was hit up there - maybe there's a bit more to this accident.

So far doesn't sound like it's entirely the bus driver's fault.
 
I passed by there on my way home from work, and after looking at the HOV lane and where he went off the bridge, I don't think he ever turned or anything, the place he went off is practicall straight in front of the HOV lane he came up. Having seen it today, I am having a harder time believing the driver thought he was still onthe expressway, albeit in an HOV lane. The exit lane he was in inclines quite a bit, and he would have seen the 75 traffic below him. That would make most people slow down, I would think. While I certainly don't think Atlanta does a good job with signage, etc on the roads, and I think that may have contributed to this accident, I also think driver error/fatigue or some other unknown factor played a role.

Tragic no matter what.
 
The next HOV lane exit he would have seen would have been the "exit" where he would have wanted to get off. That one is not really an exit though - it takes the HOV vehicles off the main road for a minute, and then loops them back around, back into traffic (but it bypasses a congested area where several major roadways come together). You never have to come to a complete stop on it.

I think he'd maybe traveled through Atlanta before and thought the Northside exit was actually the exit he wanted - he just didn't realize that it was an "exit" -- one where you have to come to a complete stop. If he saw the one (not very visible) stop sign at the top of the ramp, at the speed he was reported going at, he wouldn't have had any time to brake anyway.

This city's road designers are all idiots if you ask me - so many roads in this city are confusing as all get out.
 
I am going to agree with my fellow Atlantans, the streets and exways are crazy. I went by Piedmont and Lindbergh last month and it was all changed but I hadn't been working in the area for 2 years.

Anyway, here is an updated article for the tragedy that happened this a.m. It appears that the driver didn't try to stop as there were no skid marks. He read a sign that wasn't clear IMO.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/03/02/0302buscrash.html
 
I lived in Atlanta and it's suburbs for years. During the last ten years I lived there I lived in the Buckhead area and worked downtown at the State of Georgia's Twin Towers. Theoretically, I should have been able to go from my condo on Peachtree Road straight down to where it then turns into Peachtree Street and made a turn into the parking deck for the Twin Towers. Sounds really easy, right? Wrong! A ten to twelve mile trip would take me almost an hour to make!

Every morning was a nightmare. DOT had streets zigzagging this way and that, there was always some type of construction going on so parts of streets would be blocked off, dozens of little one way streets, etc...And then, the biggest mess of all...
THE OLYMPICS! As happy as I was to have them in Atlanta, the traffic nightmares it caused while the city got ready for two years or so were horrendous.

My husband periodically returns to Atlanta on business and he says it gets worse everytime he is there.

I miss my Atlanta friends, but not the Atlanta traffic!
 
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