RTD Bus Crash That Hurt 43 Is Blamed on Unsafe Speed

A Southern California Rapid Transit District bus operator was driving at “an unsafe speed” last week when his bus went out of control on a rain-slick freeway on-ramp in Pomona and overturned, injuring 43 people, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday.

CHP investigator Ron Baker said it was not known how fast the driver, Billy Rowe, a 14-year RTD employee, was going, but CHP officers determined that the speed was unsafe for road conditions.

The CHP’s finding of a primary cause for the accident--that the bus was traveling at an excessive rate of speed--echoes the comments of several of the passengers, who told reporters at the scene that the bus seemed to be going down the on-ramp too fast.

A maintenance team, including CHP officers, found that the bus had no mechanical defects, Baker added. Rowe told a paramedic at the scene of last Thursday’s accident on the San Bernardino Freeway that the brakes had failed.

Skid of Hundreds of Feet

CHP investigators said the Los Angeles-bound RTD Line 497 bus skidded out of control for several hundred feet on the Ganesha Boulevard on-ramp before coming to rest on its crushed right side on a muddy knoll alongside the freeway’s westbound lanes.

All 43 people aboard the bus suffered various injuries, including broken bones, bruised heads and abdominal injuries, hospital officials said. The accident tied up westbound traffic for several hours while repair crews examined the wrecked bus and paramedics treated the injured.

Baker said it was too early to say if a citation might be issued in connection with the accident.

The formal CHP report on the accident is not due for several weeks.

Rowe complained of pain in his neck and legs as a result of the accident and has been off work on worker’s compensation, Littman said.