Mercedes clips Metro bus on Alaskan Way Viaduct, crashes

Submitted by Ray Marcham on Saturday, February 6th, 10:20am

One person was injured early Saturday morning after a vehicle collided with a Metro bus on the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Seattle Police say that the bus had just gotten on the southbound deck of the viaduct from Columbia Street at around 1:15 a.m. when a black Mercedes hit it from behind. The car then went out of control and hit the retaining wall.

A passenger in the car was taken to Harborview for treatment of a head injury. The car's driver was also taken to Harborview for treatment, but was also evaluated for signs of impairment. The SPD said he appeared to be intoxicated, but that the investigation is continuing.

The driver of the bus was not hurt.

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 11:57am.

That entrance to the viaduct is the most poorly designed. Begs the question of why it is so poorly designed but more than likely there's some ridiculous answer.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 04:46pm.

Easy .. the thing was designed and built more than half a century ago.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 05:55pm.

I was on the bus. It was 1:15 am and there was no traffic at all. The Columbia entrance sucks but it wasn't at fault here. The bus driver did merge very gradually, and clipped is not the best descriptor for what happened. We were rounding the turn right after the Columbia entrance and just crossing over into the far right lane when the Mercedes smashed into us. You have to be moving pretty fast to move a giant bus with a dinky little sports car and we got thrown a good five feet. Last thing I heard before the impact was an engine wailing like it was trying out for Fast and the Furious.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 02:26pm.

Our Gov. engineers at Work!!
Where is all of our gas tax money going that is supposed to design and maintain the roads?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 02:28pm.

These busses don't gradually merge there, they just do a nice little suicide death move to the right, not surprised the Mercedes hit the bus, those drivers are crazy!

Submitted by Bus driver (not verified) on Saturday, February 6th, 04:35pm.

Spoken by someone who has never driven a bus. You can't "gradually merge", there is not enough room. That on ramp is very poorly designed.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, February 8th, 04:21pm.

The mercedes was probably going too fast and the bus pulled out in front of them causing the mercedes to run into the back of the bus; the car didnt have enough time to slow down. So the mercedes fault for speeding but the busses fault for pulling out right in front of the car.