The bus exited the HOV through lane but climbed the exit ramp at highway speed. When it reached the street above, it crashed into the concrete barrier wall opposite, jumped the bridge and fell back onto I-75 below.
Five ball players, the driver and his wife were killed. On the way up the ramp, the driver passed stop-ahead and stop signs.
A Cox News Service investigation of the crash found that the exit was originally designed to include an overhead sign pointing out the HOV through lane, the lane that Bluffton bus would apparently try and fail to follow.
But because of a mistake in DOT’s sign plans, engineers left that sign off the exit, installing it instead at another location where there is no exit.
Georgia settled with the victims and their families this year, paying them $3 million, the legal maximum for one incident.
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