BUS CRASH HURTS 2 MOTORISTS AVTA VEHICLE GOES OUT OF CONTROL AT INTERSECTION WITH ROOKIE AT WHEEL.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Two motorists were injured when an Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus driven by a rookie driver went out of control at an intersection, jumped a median and slammed into cars stopped for the traffic signal.

Empty except for its driver, the AVTA bus failed to straighten out after turning left from eastbound Rancho Vista Boulevard onto northbound 10th Street West, deputies said.

Instead the bus kept going in an almost 180-degree turn, plowing through stopped vehicles on the other side of the street until it hit a tree and landscaping adjoining the Antelope Valley Mall, deputies said.

``Her claim is she lost the brakes,'' Deputy Jeff Perkins said of the bus driver. ``There's a witness who said the bus' left-side wheels were off the ground.''

Deputies impounded the bus and will have California Highway Patrol investigators who specialize in heavy duty commercial vehicles examine it for mechanical problems, they said.

AVTA spokeswoman Pamela Holland said agency officials viewed bus security camera footage and believe the crash was the fault of the bus driver, who had been driving for the agency for fewer than three months.

Neither Holland nor deputies identified the bus driver, who was taken to a hospital after the crash with what deputies described as minor injuries.

``From what we can see on the videotape it's pretty clear to us it's driver error,'' Holland said.

A preliminary check on the bus' brakes at the crash scene found ``no significant issue,'' Holland said. AVTA records indicated the bus had received the proper maintenance and the AVTA fleet within the last month passed its annual CHP inspection, though Holland said she did not know if this bus was inspected individually.

Motorist Alicia Smith, 21, of Lancaster, whose 2003 Volkswagen Beetle was stopped among other vehicles when it was hit by the bus, was described as in critical condition when firefighters freed her from the wreckage. But after she was flown by helicopter to Providence Holy Cross Hospital Medical Center, officials said her injuries were not life-threatening.

The bus also hit a 2006 Toyota Corolla driven by Kathleen Stenback, 21, of Lancaster, but she escaped with what authorities described as minor injuries. She was taken to a hospital by ambulance.