Bus crash in Soledad: still lots of mysteries

By now, you may have heard about the news that a tour bus has crashed in Soledad, CA, which is a bit south of Monterey (Pebble Beach). This was back on Tuesday (3 days ago). There was a lot of mumble about passenger (and the bus driver) died upon being ejected from the bus. Though the question remains... How did it get that way? Buses are supposed to contain the passengers even in case of rollovers.

From as far as I can tell, this is the spot where the bus came to rest, as close as I can, with Google StreetView:


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Which seems to be the same spot as depicted here:

http://www.ksbw.com/slideshow/news/19316950/detail.html

That brings up a huge question. If you look at the Google StreetView and try to line up the trees, you can see that the LEFT side of the screen is SOUTH, and RIGHT is north. (The 2nd slide out of 12 is best here)

However, if you look at the accident photo, keep in mind that a bus has one set of wheels up front (steer), and two sets of wheels (drive and tag) in the back. In the accident photo, it appears that the single wheel is on the right side, and the two wheels are on the LEFT. This would indicate that the bus has spun 180 degrees around somehow, AND rolled over to its side. In fact, if you look at slide 8 of the same series, which shows it from the opposite angle, this is proven beyond doubt. In slide #8, looking at the belly of the bus, you can see the single front axle to the left, and dual axles to the right just at the edge of the photo.

Yet in slide #3, you can see the skidmarks. One set of skidmarks on the left side of the road, and two on the right side. Presumably, the single is caused from the front wheel, and the duals are caused by the rear axle.

This can only mean one thing: the crash was extremely violent. The driver somehow lost control of the vehicle at the overpass. The bus skidded and went into the guardrail to the left, and its nose left the pavement, and took out several dozen feet of the guardrail. But the guardrail kept the bus on the road, which by this time is going SIDEWAYS. The front of the bus was stopped by the guardrail a moment later, but the rear, not restrained by the guardrail, kept going, and the momentum turned the bus 180 degrees and tipped over.

THAT sort of violent hit could have caused the front windshields to pop off completely and thus ejecting driver and passenger through the front of the bus.

In fact, if you look at slide #9, the front windshields are gone, and the front bumper is completely missing, revealing the spare tire carrier.

However, please note that the body have remained mostly intact. If NOT for the ejections, MOST of the passengers WOULD have survived with broken bones and contusions (bruises). It's the ejection that killed the ones that died.

Which brings up the question: would seatbelts have saved them?

Probably yes, but so would a stability control system. Yes, they are available on motorcoaches, and may have helped the driver in this case.