National Transportation Safety Board

Highway Accident Report Motorcoach Override of Elevated Exit Ramp Interstate 75 Atlanta, Georgia March 2, 2007 National Transportation Safety Board

Publisher Marketing: About 5:38 a.m. eastern standard time on Friday, March 2, 2007, a 2000 VanHool T2145 57-passenger motorcoach operated by Executive Coach Luxury Travel, Inc., transporting 33 members of the Bluffton University baseball team, the driver, and his wife, was traveling south on Interstate 75 in Atlanta, Georgia. According to witnesses, the motorcoach was in the southbound high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane at milepost 250 when it departed the interstate, traveling at highway speed, onto the HOV-only left exit ramp to Northside Drive. The exit ramp came to an end at the stop sign-controlled T-intersection with Northside Drive. As the motorcoach entered the intersection at an estimated speed of 50 to 60 mph, the driver steered to the right and collided with the reinforced portland cement concrete bridge wall and chain-link security fence located along the southern edge of the eastbound lanes of the overpass. The motorcoach then overrode the bridge rail, rotated clockwise, and fell 19 feet onto the southbound lanes of the interstate. The motorcoach came to rest on its left side (driver's side), perpendicular to the southbound lanes of Interstate 75. Two southbound passenger vehicles received minor damage from debris as the motorcoach fell onto Interstate 75; none of the passenger vehicle occupants were injured. Seven motorcoach occupants were killed: the driver, the driver's wife, and five passengers. Seven other passengers received serious injuries, and 21 passengers received minor injuries.