The Bluffton University bus crash is a car accident that occurred during the early hours of the morning of March 2, 2007, at Interstate 75 in Atlanta, Georgia. Rented motorcoach brought 33 members of the Bluffton University baseball team from Bluffton, Ohio, on their way to a tournament game during spring break in Sarasota, Florida. The group plans to travel without stopping overnight around a 900-mile, 18-hour journey. The journey took place without incident from southern Bluffton to a motel in Adairsville, Georgia, where at that time an aid driver began operating the bus for the second half of the trip.
Around 5: 38 EST, while operating the motorcoach to the south on the HOV I-75 left path in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the driver accidentally enters the left exit, which ends unexpectedly at a high fork marked by a stop sign. When it reached the top of the road and the stop sign, the bus was traveling with highway speed. The driver lost control of the bus, which skidded to a concrete bridge wall and a chain-link fence, then fell 19 feet, landing on its left side on the interstate highway below. Twenty-nine passengers survived the crash, while seven passengers were killed.
The US National Transportation Safety Council (NTSB) sent the team to the scene and initiated an investigation. Local and state police and Georgia Department of Transport (GDOT) officials were also investigated. In its final report, the NTSB determined that the probable cause was "motorcoach drivers mistakenly thought the only HOV exit left-path to Northside Drive for Interstate 75 HOV south through the lane." Factors contributing to the accident were "the failure of the Georgia Department of Transport to install an adequate traffic control device to identify the separation and divergence of Northside Drive HOV-just leave the exit from Interstate 75 HOV south through the lane." The NTSB further decided that contributing to the severity of the accident was "a lack of motorcoach from an adequate occupant protection system."
Video Bluffton University bus crash
Detail
The team is from Bluffton University, a Christian liberal arts college in Bluffton, Ohio. They drive motorbikes operated by Executive Coach Luxury Travel, Inc. in Ottawa, Ohio, near Bluffton. The bus was an intercity passenger van Hool T2145 57-passenger in 2000 that had passed a security check by the Ohio Highway Patrol on February 23, just seven days before the crash. The bus is traveling to a tournament match during spring break in Sarasota, Florida. The group plans to travel without stopping overnight around a 900-mile, 18-hour journey.
Jerome "Jerry" Niemeyer and his wife, Jean Niemeyer, live in Columbus Grove, Ohio, near Bluffton. Jerry has been driving the bus for years for several school events and trips, especially for Executive Coach Luxury Travel Inc., and he has been transporting the team on the same route a year before. Shortly before the 2007 team trip to Florida, Jean had quit his job at a local McDonald's in Ottawa, Ohio. The Niemeyers got into the Comfort Inn in Adairsville right after 7:30 pm the night before the accident. From all indications, Jerry has taken the rest period required by the Federal Motorcycle Transport Safety Standard before taking over motorcoach. Blood and urine samples from his body then show the presence of ibuprofen, the therapeutic level of Sertraline antidepressants and Atenolol anti-hypertensive drugs, and concluded that he had no alcohol in his system.
Jerry took over as a morning driver at a motel in Adairsville when it was time to switch drivers. Shortly before this, he and Jean checked out of their hotel around 3 am and had ordered from a local pizzeria. About an hour later, they were in Atlanta, heading south on Interstate 75 on a high-residential lane. Jerry, apparently mistaken, drove left to the exit, which went up to the elevated road and the T-junction, marked with a stop sign, with Northside Drive (AS 41).
Without braking, the bus turned right across the street, trying to head south on Northside Drive. Unable to turn, he hit a low barrier wall, causing the rear end of the bus to swing to the right, pointing north. The momentum of this swing causes the entire right side of the bus to crash and then passes through the low wall and passes over the safety railing above it. Flipped 270 ° (rotation-)), dropped onto the freeway below, landed on the left side and hit the pickup truck. The pickup driver, who quickly speeds up when he sees the bus crash, is unharmed.
At 5:41 am, a 9-1-1 call came from a player on a charter bus, begging for help. The majority of injured baseball players are transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta's largest hospital with a 1st level trauma center. All wings are cleaned for baseball players and their families. Several players were also treated at Atlanta Medical Center, a Level 2 trauma center. Team trainers were treated at Piedmont Hospital.
Maps Bluffton University bus crash
Victim
Fatalities
Of the 35 people on the bus, seven people were killed in the crash.
Injuries
The 29 passengers who had survived the accident were taken to a hospital in the Atlanta area, including Grady, Atlanta Medical Center, and Piedmont Hospital. Baseball coach James Grandey, 29, and four players were reported to be in serious or critical condition, one of whom later died. On March 15, 2007, James Grandey was reportedly in good condition and released. Many others were treated and released.
Investigation causes
The design of the allegedly bad exit itself soon becomes the main source of error. The Atlanta Police Department and the National Transportation Safety Agency were investigated. Meanwhile, preliminary tests rule out the possibility of mechanical failure.
An initial report was issued about a week after the accident, according to the NTSB chairman. The final report was released in July 2008. Regarding the cause, NTSB stated:
The National Transportation Safety Council determined that the probable cause of this accident was the motorcoach driver mistaking the left HOV-only exit to Northside Drive for Interstate 75 HOV south through the lane. Contributing to a crash driver's error is the failure of Georgia's Department of Transport to install an adequate traffic control device to identify the separation and divergence of Northside Drive HOV's only left exit from Interstate 75 HOV south through the lane. Contribution to the severity of the accident is the lack of adequate occupant protection systems.
The main safety issues identified in this accident include inadequate HOV traffic control devices, inadequate motorist driver control, lack of event data recorders on motorcoaches, and lack of protection of motorcoach occupants. As a result of his investigation, the Safety Board made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration and to the Department of Transport of Georgia. The Safety Board also repeated four recommendations for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
What is interesting in the investigation is the design of the exit itself. Several factors play a possible role, including the fact that the exit is an unspecified left exit; inadequate advance notice is given of this arrangement; HOV signed exit door is different from standard exit; arrows on the exit sign of the driver being misled about where the HOV path continues; and the way out itself has a bad nameplate.
Effects
The Georgia Department of Transportation made changes to the seven left lane HOV lanes in Atlanta, beginning March 14, 2007. The latest NTSB report urges further changes than has been made.
Doctors from Grady Memorial Hospital began phoning congressmen from Ohio and Georgia as soon as the accident urged them to put a seat belt on the Charter Bus to avoid this situation in the near future.
In December 2009, US Transport Secretary Ray LaHood announced a new edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Equipment , which incorporated changes recommended by the National Transportation Safety Agency. One of the changes, in response to the inadequate marking of the HOV exit on Northside Drive in Atlanta, was the addition of a distinct track for a non-continuous line outside the intersection or intersection to give more warning to the driver that they needed to change lanes if they did not intend to change.
The bills introduced will require better seatbelts and protection such as anti-ejection windows on the bus as they are used.
Aftermath
The funeral for Jerome and Jean Niemeyer took place on March 7, 2007, at St. Catholic Parish. Anthony in Columbus Grove, Ohio. The funeral for David Betts took place at Bryan High School in Bryan, Ohio, on March 9, 2007. Scott Harmon was passed on 7 March 2007, at Elida High School in Elida, Ohio. A service for Tyler Williams was held on March 8, 2007, at the Missionary Baptist Church of the Philippines in Lima, Ohio. The funeral of Cody Holp, at Lewisburg United Methodist Church in Lewisburg, Ohio, took place on March 8, 2007. Zachary Arend's funeral was held at St. Catholic Church. Joseph in Paulding, Ohio, on March 16, 2007.
Hundreds of people packed the Founders Hall at the Bluffton University campus for a funeral on March 12, 2007, and an overflowing audience listened outside as the students wailed together for the first time. The service was attended by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a number of other public officials, representatives of colleges and universities, Mennonite Church officials, AirTran employees, other athletes from colleges at the same conference, and firefighters and rescue. The memorial service was broadcast live by satellite to Atlanta, where the team coach and several other players are still recovering at the hospital.
Several lawsuits were filed by families of deceased players and by those injured in an accident at the Fulton County District Court, Georgia. Judge Susan Forsling filed a case management order that included provisions for mediating all claims in Ohio.
The death claims and personal injury that arose from this accident were completed gradually for a total of $ 25 million, allocated among all claimants through agreement through a group of joint prosecutors. First, the insurance company for the Executive Coach pays the policy limit of $ 5 million required under the Federal Motor Car's safety rules. Secondly, the state of Georgia paid $ 3 million to the casualty victims because of negligent design claims, intersections, and nameplate. The Tort Act Act of the State of Georgia limits state agency government responsibility to a maximum of $ 1 million per person and $ 3 million per incident, no matter how many are injured. Third, after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the university's insurance insurance policy applies to the bus driver because the trainer retains control over the driver, a total of $ 21 million in coverage is added to the pool. At that time, the insurance company holding the first two layers of university insurance coverage tendered its policy limits of $ 1 million and $ 5 million, in the spring of 2011. On July 29, 2011, the last insurance company for Bluffton University, with limit of $ 15 million, agreed to pay an additional $ 11 million, to be allocated among complainants according to their agreement.
See also
- 2006 Huntsville Bus Accident
- Carrollton Bus Disaster
- 2018 Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash
- List of accidents involving sports teams
References
External links
- NTSB update on May 24
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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