NTSB wants signage improvements near Georgia overpass

Sep 14, 2008

The National Transportation Safety Board told the Georgia Department of Transportation to make several sign changes to prevent future crashes at an overpass where a motorcoach plummeted 19 feet in 2007.

Safety recommendations released Aug. 18 advised the Georgia DOT to install message plaques, exit signs and speed limit signs with specific guidance for drivers who exit the overpass, near Interstate 75 in Atlanta.

The crash occurred March 2, 2007, when a motorcoach operated by Ottawa, OH-based Executive Coach Luxury Travel Inc. exited the "high-occupancy vehicle only" lane of Interstate 75, entered an intersection on an overpass, crashed through a bridge wall and fell onto the interstate. Seven passengers – the driver, his wife and five members of the Bluffton University baseball team – were killed.

A final report on the crash said Georgia DOT failed to provide adequate traffic control devices identifying the two different lanes. NTSB also said the driver was to blame for mistaking an exit ramp for a through lane.

The board made five recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration for uniformity of the specific requirements, standards and criteria in the Manual of Uniform Control Devices.

The recommendation letters are available on the NTSB Website.