Early Thursday morning a crash involving a Greyhound bus and two other vehicles on a highway in Fresno, California, killed 6 people and left 34 injured.
That accident happened around 5:15 a.m. eastern time on northbound California Highway 99. According to highway patrol spokesman, Officer Kirk Arnold, the bus apparently struck an overturned SUV that was in the highway’s fast lane, and then struck a second vehicle before going off road and slamming into a large eucalyptus tree.
Timothy Stokes, a Greyhound spokesman, said the bus was en route from Los Angeles to Sacramento with 35 people on board. Arnold said the bus had apparently made a stop in Fresno. Stokes said in a statement the bus was en route to its next stop, Madera, California, when the wreck occurred.
Authorities are still trying to piece everything together. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Six people sustained severe injuries in the crash, and another 24 had minor injuries. Even thought this accident took place in California, it could have easily been a reality here in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. Due to their sheer size, buses are extremely dangerous in any collision. Passengers on buses are typically unrestrained, and have virtually none of the protection that passengers in other motor vehicles utilize. From Greyhound to local bus agencies, you may experience a host of potential safety issues, including poorly-maintained buses, bus drivers without enough experience, or even a bus driver who has been driving too many long shifts. Because of the safety issues the FMCSA, or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association, implemented a new list of federal regulations to protect bus passengers and ensure bus agencies are complying with federal safety laws.
Our condolences go out the families of the victims in this deadly California bus crash. A thorough accident investigation will be able to give us more information on how this wreck happened and hopefully advice on how to keep collisions like this from happening in the future.
