College Baseball Team Bus Crash

That exit ramp is on the left of I-75 and is labeled as an HOV off ramp. To stay in the regular HOV lane of I-75, you actually need to be in the penultimate left-hand lane at that point.

My guess is the driver thought he was exiting onto an express HOV lane of some sort as he went up the ramp. At the top of the ramp is a T-intersection, however, at which point you would turn left or right on the overpass. In the darkness, again I'm guessing, driver just hit the T-intersection at 65-70 mph and went straight through the top of the T, off the overpass and plummeted back down to I-75.

I drive it all the time, and you often see people swerving off the exit lane back into the normal HOV lane to the right, but as you approach the top of that ramp, it should be plenty evident that you're hitting a T-intersection. Cannot even begin to understand what happened to this driver.

Interactive "route taken" element on cnn.com gives you a pretty good idea of the sitch.

 

As if 75, with its Atlanta commuters going 100mph, isn't dangerous enough without these T-roads. Was this in the area they refer to as Spaghetti Junction?

 

No, Spaghetti Junction is up I-85, at the I-285 intersection. This was at I-75 and Northside Drive, which is about 15 miles due west or so.

Here's the AJC map here:

 

And this crash doesn't seem to have anything to do with the "danger" of the so-called T-roads. If the driver never slowed going up the ramp, it doesn't much matter what was past the stop sign/light at the end of the interstate exit -- the bus was going to go somewhere it didn't want to go. That ain't the road's fault.

 

Thanks for the clarification. As I said in a previous post, these late-night bus trips are a drag. I've met several SIDs who looked as though they were about to collapse after a few road trips. As for the drivers of the buses, this sounds like a fairly small mom-and-pop operation. I mean, it sounds to me like the husband and wife were sharing the driving duties. It makes me wonder about the driver change that was mentioned in the story I read. But I'd probably learn a lot more if I read the AJC story instead of the AP story on CNN.com.

 

I can't understand how these surviving boys are doing all these TV interviews...they're sobbing and bleeding and swollen and dazed, and clearly should be home with their families and friends, not doing interviews. Are there no parents who just say, 'sorry, we're going home'....?

 

I know what you mean.

I saw one of them, and I think he sincerely needed to talk about it, but after he got his feelings out, the questions about every little detail followed, and I thought, "Someone take him away."

 

AJC story cites 'dozens' of accidents at that site:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/03/03/metbusintersection0303.html

 

I printed that photo out as soon as I saw it yesterday and took it to my boss wondering if it would be published in print by the AJC or any other paper. Certainly wasn't going to be in my paper, but I haven't seen any other Saturday sections.

 

yeah. wow. something chilling about seeing four bodies covered in sheets lying peacefully on the interstate. it's a different chilling than seeing those gory war shots.

 

I can't remember if there is one on the southbound side, but I know on the northbound side at the 75/85 split, there's an exit to the left from the HOV lane to keep you on 75 north to prevent you to have to get all the way to the right at the split to exit.

Northside drive is north of the junction southbound, I think... maybe that's what the driver was thinking?

 

You are correct about the northbound split. The HOV exit for I-75 is on the left, while the regular exit for I-75 is on the right. In effect, there are two exits for I-75 North, while the middle lanes keep you on I-85 North.

Not that it matters. They weren't heading north; they were driving to Florida.

The southbound split is past downtown, near the airport, which is nowhere near where they were at the time of the crash.

Now, on I-75 South, there is an exit for I-85 North at the northside split. IIRC, that exit is on the right side (I don't think there is an HOV lane exit, although I might be wrong.)

Northside Drive is several exits before the split for I-85 North. However, as I said, they weren't heading north. ... I have no idea what the driver was thinking, but it shouldn't have been confusion about the split, because the split south was 20 miles down the interstate and the split north ... would take them north, and they weren't going that way.