Garfield High School Softball Bus Crashes, Loses Roof

Lake Wa Blvd by Seattlest Flickr Contributor Dylan Koutsky

A charter bus carrying the Garfield High School softball team crashed into a low pedestrian overpass in the Arboretum last night, shearing the roof off the bus. Five students who were passengers were taken to Harborview Medical Center after complaining of back and neck pain. Though none of the injuries appeared to be serious, the girls were taken to the hospital by ambulance.

The charter bus crashed into a 96-year-old pedestrian foot bridge on Lake Washington Boulevard, known as the Arboretum Aqueduct. Yellow reflective signs on the bridge warn: "Low Clearance, 9 feet 0 inches." The charter bus was 11-feet, 8-inches tall, over two and a half feet too tall to safely pass under the bridge. With such a height differential, clearly the driver didn't think "I might just be able to eek under this," but he is refusing to talk.

Steve Abegg, President of Journey Lines (the charter company involved in the accident) is similarly tight-lipped, telling a P-I-reporter at the scene "I know how it happened, but no comment." He did add that driving through the arboretum is not a normal route for his buses. As well as shearing the roof off the bus, the impact of the crash also crushed the right side of the bus and shattered the windshield and a number of windows. To add insult to their minor-injuries, Garfield's Softball team was returning from a 10-0 romp by Lake Washington High School.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Abbey in News on April 17, 2008 9:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Raspberi

As a very good friend of one person on the bus, and acquaintance of many others, I have had many a discussion of this today.

Here's what I've got:

The bus crashed. No one knew what happened. Big impact. A crazy amount of screaming. One girl apparently said she heard the roof caving in and everyone else believed her. They thought that they were going to die.

Yup.

The team's had an awful season: something like 70% or more of their games have been rained out (the softball league apparently cancels at a whisper of rain, or a wet field.) and then they do badly when they can play.

A very good friend already had to quit the team after a coach, not seeing her, whipped a bat into the side of her head. Like, her temple.

I would not want to be on that team.

Abbey

For those of you wondering "WTF was this guy thinking?" The local news is reporting he was following the directions of a GPS Device, which obviously don't take the height of the vehicle vs. overpasses in account when giving directions.

But still THE SIGNS, guy. The Signs!

jeverettr

Much like knowing about the Wheedle, understanding that the maximum height for anything going down LWB is 9' is emblematic of being from here. And all failing that, the lights flashing, the signs, and the HORN BLARING AT YOU when you're overheight is also helpful. Here's to the driver, the chaperones, and the entire team from GHS for not knowing that when it says 9', it means 9'. You win today.

mbq

you see, dope *does* affect your ability to make spatial judgments.

Simonian

What part of 'low clearance' did the idiot not understand? My school bus used to go under there and we had to get way to the left and hope no one was coming really fast the other way while we listened to the antenna scraping the underside of the bridge.