Metro Bus involved in major accident (Buffalo NY USA)
Bitterdw2000
an accident outside of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The driver
of the bus, Gilbert Rogers Jr., 51, was killed due to injuries suffered when he
was ejected from the vehicle at impact. The following new article (attached)
was taken from the Buffalo News evening edition *FRONT PAGE*
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CRASH KILLS METRO BUS DRIVER, INJURES 5
by Gene Warner and Dan Herbeck
News Staff Reporters.
A longtime Metro Bus driver was fatally injured this morning when he was thrown
from his bus in an almost head-on collission with a tractor-trailer that
reportedly ran a red light across from the Buffalo Niagara International
Airport.
The accident also sent five bus passengers to the hospital and caused huge
traffic headaches for departing airport passengers. None of the bus passengers
injuries was believed to be serious.
The bus driver, identified this afternoon as Gilbert Rogers Jr., 51, of
Cheektowaga, was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, Cheektowaga where he was
pronounced dead in the emergency room.
Rogers was a thirty-one year employee with the NFTA and has been a driver for
the past 25 years. He started in 1968 as a helper in the Cold Spring (Main and
Michigan) bus garage.
The bus collided with a westbound tractor-trailer loaded with crushed stone on
Genesee Street in front of the Radisson Hotel shortly before 7:00am,
authorities said. Police said the bus was turning left out of the airport
terminal to go east on Genesee Street.
"From what we've been told so far, it appears that the driver of the bus had
the right-of-way and that the truck driver was unable to stop his vehicle at
the intersection," said John Battle, Chief of the NFTA Police. "There's a lot
of momentum when you have a truck loaded with that much stone."
Witnessed told police that they saw the truck already wobbling and losing some
of the stones as it approached the intersection, which has a traffic light.
Cheektowaga police ticketed the driver of the tractor-trailer, James March of
Cowlesville, for imprudent speed and passing a red light. Police said he was
carrying a load of about 35 tons of stone.
The force of the impact ejected the bus driver onto the street. The bus is
equipped with a seat belt for the driver, bus investigators have no idea
whether he was wearing it at the time of the accident.
"When the officers got there, the bus driver was lying on the street near the
entrance of the airport in very bad shape," Cheektowaga police Lt. Mark Nacke
said at the scene.
The momentum of the accident pushed the bus - without its driver - all the way
across Genesee Street, where it came to a rest on the curb in front of the
hotel, according to Douglas Hartmeyer, public affairs director of the NFTA.
The collision crushed the front end of the bus, on the drivers side, and
collapsed the bus frame onto the drivers seat, eyewitnesses reported. The
impact tipped the tractor trailer onto its side, spewing tons of crushed stone
over the roadway.
Witnesses said they saw several bus passengers, some in neck braces, taken off
the bus on backboards before being taken to Erie County Medical Center. Two of
the five bus passengers were treated and released by late this morning, while
the other three were still being treated.
The accident disrupted morning rush-hour traffic and forced people to re-route
some motorists that were attempting to catch flights at the airport.
END
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For an additional point of information, Genesee Street is a major artery known
also as NYS Rt. 33 until the beginning of the Kensington Expressway. At the
area of the accident (to the best of my recollection) it is approximately 7-8
lanes in width, with a speed limit of 35-45 mph.
Additionally, according to the picture, the bus involved in the accident was
numbered 9312, a New Flyer ?Galaxy? received in 1994. It is believed, in my
opinion, that these buses are the workhorse of the fleet, with about 75 on the
road.
A quick check of the schedules also indicates that the bus was likely operating
on Route 68-George Urban Express, oringinating at the Airport at 6:50am. This
bus services Genesee Street from the airport to Downtown Buffalo via Genesee,
Transit, George Urban, Union, George Urban, Harlem, and NYS 33 (Kensington
Expressway). The route operates wiith approximately 70 weekday passengers on
two daily round-trips (2 AM inbound, 2 PM outbound).
If further information becomes available on this story, it will be posted in
the thread.
Thanks.
Darrin B.