TimesArgus.com - We Are Vermont

Crash closes I-89 for hours

No serious injuries when commuter bus plows into vehicles

MIDDLESEX - A commuter bus barreled into traffic in the southbound lane of Interstate 89 in Middlesex on Thursday morning, smashing three vehicles and sending four people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Vermont State Police said.

At roughly 9 a.m., traffic was either stopped or had slowed to barely a trickle about two miles north of a construction zone when a Green Mountain Transit Link Express bus plowed into the back of the vehicles.

[Photos are at http://www.timesargus.com/buscrash]

A Nissan sport utility vehicle towing a camper was struck, along with a Toyota Highlander and a third car. The severely damaged vehicles came to a rest clustered against the right-hand guardrail.

Of the five occupants in those three vehicles, only one person was taken to the hospital, though police did not have the man's name immediately available.

The four other occupants, who were in the Nissan and the Toyota, were up and walking around the site and had refused medical attention.

The bus driver, Deane Harrington, 74, was taken to the Central Vermont Medical Center, along with several of his passengers, according to Lt. Paul White, the commander of the state police barracks in Middlesex. A state police release issued Thursday night said all were treated for minor injuries and released.

The bus came to a rest 200 to 300 yards ahead of where the three other vehicles and the debris from the demolished camper were left lying in the highway.

A fourth car suffered minor damage and drove away, said White.

White said the bus driver told him the bus lost its brakes, which is why it went so far up the median. But White said it is unclear when the brakes failed or whether that is the reason the bus did not stop for traffic.

The bus, which held about 12 people, according to a member of the Montpelier Fire Department, was carrying passengers from Burlington to Montpelier.

It is surprising no one was killed in the accident, White said.

"Look at these cars," White said. "I'm just amazed no one is dead."

Part of the metal frame from the camper pierced the back seat of one of the vehicles, and if a passenger had been there, the results could have been lethal, said White.

"If anybody had been sitting in the back seat, the frame would have impaled them," said White.

Two couples were in the Nissan and the Toyota.

The four people, who are friends from Quebec, were on their way to Ogunquit, Maine, for a camping trip, they said.

The remains of the camper and the supplies for their camping trip were scattered about the accident scene. Propane tanks rested beside the highway, cushions lay in the road and playing cards were strewn about.

Andre Mathieu, 56, was driving the Nissan that was towing the trailer. His wife Carole Beauchamp, 56, was riding in the passenger seat.

"The traffic was backed up because of the work up ahead," said Mathieu as he stood on the roadside. "I don't know why he didn't stop," he added, referring to the bus driver.

Mathieu was relieved that he, his wife and friends were uninjured.

"We're lucky to have no hurt, no pain," he said in a thick French accent.

Bruno Roy, 64, said his wife, Christine Legault, 50, saw the approaching bus in the mirror. Then he looked in the mirror and saw it as well.

"There was a slowdown in the circulation (of traffic), I see the bus coming behind me, and pow!" he said, clapping his hands together.

The four Quebec residents said they were wearing their seatbelts, and appeared to be fine, though Legault had a bump on her head and dried blood on her hand.

It is unclear at this point why traffic was congested so far from the construction zone, said White.

"The work is a long ways down," he said. "I don't know why traffic was backed up so far."

An engineer at the construction project got a call saying that traffic was backed up and a short time later received another call telling him about the accident, said White.

The southbound lane of Interstate 89 was closed between Exits 8 and 9 until about 12:30 p.m. as traffic was diverted onto Route 2.

By 10:30 a.m. tow truck crews were hauling the cars and the bus away and Vermont Agency of Transportation employees were clearing rubble from the road with a bucket loader.

Police are still investigating the accident and White said he is hoping anyone who witnessed the accident will call state police.

Harrington has been a driver for the Green Mountain Transit Agency since 2003 when the non-profit was established, according to Tawnya Kirsten, the community relations manager for GMTA.

Kirsten said she could not comment on Harrington's official driving record but said those records would be given to investigators at the Department of Motor Vehicles as part of standard procedure.

Harrington, a Roxbury resident, is an experienced and respected bus driver, she noted.

"He's very well experienced and very well-loved on his routes," she said. "He's well known in this community and well respected for the job that he does."

The Link buses do not have seat belts, which has raised questions among some passengers, according to a statement issued by GMTA and the Chittenden County Transportation Authority, which manages GMTA.

"When these buses were purchased, the bus manufacturer did not offer seatbelts as standard equipment on these vehicles nor were seatbelts available as an option on these vehicles," according to general manager Chris Cole. "The bus manufacturer has recently developed a seatbelt prototype that is currently being tested for installation on their vehicles. Once that prototype has been fully tested and is made available to CCTA and GMTA, we will look to add that equipment to our Link buses, as the safety of our passengers is the first priority of CCTA and GMTA."

White said the bus was going be towed to a Chittenden County Transportation Agency facility in Burlington, where it will be put up on a lift and closely examined.

There is video on the bus that will be retrieved and reviewed by investigators, Kirsten said.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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