SEATTLE, WA — Eight people were taken to the hospital after a serious accident that involved a crane, a highway sign, and a bus in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, March 17th, 2015. News reports out of Seattle said that the accident happened at around 10:00 Tuesday night.
Eight people were taken to the hospital after the bus they were on was struck by a highway sign while driving over the Highway 520 bridge. Officials said that a pipe fell from the crane it was being hoisted with before it struck the highway sign, which in turn, hit the bus.
Eight people on the bus reported injuries after the accident.
The investigation is currently ongoing at this time.
Scene of the Accident
View of the Road
Commentary:
Now, if I were to guess, whatever company whose job it was to secure this hoisted pipe is probably in a panic right now. Needless to say, for a pipe to fall from a crane, there was a lot that had to go wrong. Was this pipe properly anchored to the crane? Or did somebody not do their job properly. Many would call this a ‘freak accident’ but unless it involves something like a lightning strike, or some other act of god, I simply don’t believe such a thing exists. I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say that with this situation, either improper securing methods were used, meaning, securing equipment that wasn’t rated for the weight of the pipe, or the operation was done too quickly, and the pipe slid off the hoist due to inertia. Either way, I’d say that the victims in this accident are in a position to make the construction company answer for what happened, and if necessary, make them take responsibility.
— Grossman Law Offices