FHWA considering HOV sign changes in wake of bus crash

Proposed new rule would make all HOV lane signs consistent.

The Associated Press

1/18/2008

ATLANTA — The Federal Highway Administration is considering changing rules for signs and pavement markings on highway commuter lanes because of a 2007 bus crash that killed five Bluffton University baseball teammates.

The proposed changes to the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices would make all high-occupancy vehicle lane signs consistent, with a green background and white lettering, and clear wording for left-side direct exits in HOV lanes and all left-side exit ramps. The changes also would require better pavement markings using the diamond-shaped symbol that represents HOV lanes.

The federal manual is the national standard for highway signs, traffic signals, pavement markings and all other traffic control devices.

The bus carrying the Ohio team crashed on March 2 after it went up a left-lane exit ramp that stops on a bridge over Interstate 75 in Atlanta. The bus went off the overpass, killing five players from the Mennonite school and the bus driver and his wife. In addition, 28 others were injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release its probable cause report on the crash in the summer, said spokeswoman Bridget Serchak.

Investigators have said the bus driver apparently mistook the left-side HOV exit ramp for a highway lane and overshot a stop sign at the top of the ramp. Between 2002 and 2003, three other drivers were involved in accidents at the same HOV exit ramp, and all said they did not even know they had left the I-75 HOV lane before they crashed, according to Atlanta police reports.

After the Bluffton bus crash , the Georgia Department of Transportation added safety features such as signs and reflective stripes to commuter-lane exits along the interstate in Atlanta, including the one involved in the bus crash. A Georgia DOT spokesman said the recommendations would provide "consistent national standards" on HOV exit ramp signs and markings.

"The manual just hadn't addressed how do you sign an HOV ramp and the tragedy brought home the need to address it," said spokesman David Spear. "The Federal Highway Administration said consistently that our signage prior to the incident was in full compliance with the (manual's) recommendations at the time. What we've all come to realize since then is that there were things not addressed."

Steve Collier — an attorney representing the family of David Betts, one of the baseball players killed in the accident — said improving the federal standards for HOV exit signs is one of several factors that needs to be addressed. Others include requiring seat belts on U.S. motorcoaches and preventing driver error.

"All of these factors come into play and when you have a tragedy like this, these things are examined more closely," Collier said. "Hopefully ... some positive can come out of it so it makes it safer for people in the future."

The public comment period on the recommendations will end July 31, said Federal Highway Administration spokesman Doug Hecox. The recommendations first appeared in the Federal Register on Jan. 2.