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Bus rams car on I-5 -- 8 hurt
Metro riders escape serious injury in chain collision on Ship Canal Bridge
Monday, October 9, 2000
By JACK HOPKINS
Eight people were injured yesterday when a Metro bus traveling on Interstate 5 rammed into the back of a car, touching off a four-vehicle chain collision on the Ship Canal Bridge.
No one was seriously hurt in the accident, which briefly snarled traffic on the busy freeway.
Seattle Fire Department aid crews rushed to the scene within minutes of the low-speed crash shortly before 1 p.m.
Nearly 100 people were on board the articulated bus at the time of the collision in the southbound lanes of the freeway, a Washington State Patrol spokesman said.
The eight bus passengers who were hurt suffered minor neck and back injuries, a Fire Department spokeswoman said. Four people were treated at Harborview Medical Center, two at Swedish Medical Center and two at Virginia Mason Medical Center.
No one in any of the other three vehicles involved in the crash was injured, the Fire Department said.
The Route 307 express bus was on a trip from Northgate to downtown Seattle when it struck the rear of a car that had stopped suddenly because of heavy traffic, Metro spokesman Frank Abe said last night.
The force of that collision pushed the car into another southbound vehicle, and that car struck the rear of still another southbound car, Abe said.
None of the vehicles was heavily damaged and all were drivable after the accident, the Metro spokesman said. That kept the traffic tie-up from lasting too long.
The State Patrol cited the driver of the bus for following another vehicle too closely. Metro put her on paid administrative leave pending drug and alcohol tests -- standard procedure in bus crashes -- and an accident investigation.
Metro officials refused to release the identity of the driver, who has been driving for the agency for 22 years. It was not immediately known whether she has been involved in any other collisions.
P-I reporter Jack Hopkins can be reached at 206-870-7851 or jackhopkins@seattle-pi.com
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