CHP ATTRIBUTES BUS COLLISION TO DRIVER ERROR.Byline: David Bloom David Bloom (May 22, 1963 – April 6, 2003) was an NBC journalist (co-anchor of Weekend Today and reporter) until his sudden death in 2003 at the age of 39. Early life Daily News Staff Writer Driver error was the cause of a Jan. 17 MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. bus crash in Sherman Oaks that left 28 people injured, said California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. investigators who conducted nine hours of testing and found no mechanical problems. ``We basically ruled out the possibility of brake failure Noun 1. brake failure - brakes fail to stop a vehicle equipment failure, breakdown - a cessation of normal operation; "there was a power breakdown" ,'' Officer Michael Curtin, a crash investigator in the CHP's West Valley office, said Friday. The bus will now be returned to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which will continue its own investigation of the crash and driver Dominique Mix-Lawton, said Ellen Levine, the MTA's executive officer for operations. ``Not that we don't trust the CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan , but we want to make sure we understand what happened,'' Levine said. Mix-Lawton was driving a 1984 MTA bus with 54 passengers along Route 561, coming down the Sepulveda Pass Sepulveda Pass (el. 1130 ft. / 334 m.) is a mountain pass through the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, California. It is often called Poop-Out Pass, a phrase once used by now-deceased traffic reporter Bill Keene. on San Diego Freeway The San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405, and the part of Interstate 5 south of the El Toro Y[1]) is one of the principal north-south highways in Southern California, and the major beltway of I-5 running through Southern California. when she tried to exit the freeway onto Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. . She was unable to stop the bus, ultimately clipping two cars before purposely steering the vehicle into a tree to halt it. Mix-Lawton, who remains on leave with multiple strains and scrapes, and 25 passengers were injured in the crash, three suffering broken bones. She could not be reached for comment Friday. Passengers said Mix-Lawton pumped the brakes repeatedly while trying to stop but wasn't getting any response. Pumping air brakes is the wrong thing to do, Curtin said. ``You've got to have a certain amount of air pressure for the brakes to work,'' Curtin said. Pumping air brakes never allows the pressure to build sufficiently. Levine said the agency is reviewing Mix-Lawton's training and will interview her again about the crash. ``We need to find out where was her head at the time of the accident,'' Levine said. Mix-Lawton had worked as a bus driver for more than a year, but as a full-timer only since September. Goldy Norton, a spokesman for the United Transportation Union, said the agency's training and screening programs ensure only good drivers are chauffeuring the city's 1.1 million bus riders around each day. ``We urge them to be very demanding, and we think they are,'' Norton said. ``Certainly no one's perfect, but it's a reasonable program. This idea, that unless you've been driving a bus for 30 years you can't drive a bus, is ridiculous.'' The next question will be whether the MTA rules the crash was avoidable and therefore chargeable on Mix-Lawton's record, Norton said. Drivers with a chargeable crash are given a caution and put through retraining re·train tr. & intr.v. re·trained, re·train·ing, re·trains To train or undergo training again. re·train . Three chargeable crashes within 18 months is grounds for termination. The CHP findings, made after nine hours of tests on the bus in Dodger Stadium's parking lot Thursday, were a relief to Levine because of their implications for the rest of the MTA's older buses and for its safety inspection program. ``To me that was very good news, because the bus had gone through two brake inspections that week,'' Levine said. ``It meant there were no fleet problems.'' |
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