An ordinary trip by bus turned dangerous when a crash in Baltimore resulted in the death of one man and the serious injury of another on a recent Wednesday afternoon.
Kirby Alexander Cooper, 71, of Woodlawn, was driving his pickup truck the wrong way on northbound Woodlawn Drive during the afternoon rush hour when he struck a Maryland Transit Administration bus head-on, according to Baltimore County police. He died at the scene.
The bus driver, Alan Jerome Shanks, 52, was admitted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with serious but non-life threatening injuries. All eight passengers on board the bus were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries. Woodlawn drive was closed for about four hours.
MTA and Baltimore County authorities were working together to investigate the crash. MTA spokesperson Terry Owens said that the bus driver would be questioned and the bus itself would be subject to a thorough mechanical investigation.
When a public transit vehicle is involved in a crash, authorities have an obligation to investigate the accident thoroughly, even if it seems the cause is obviously the fault of another driver.
Bus passengers rightfully expect travel by bus to be an exceptionally safe form of transportation. And in most cases, it is. Buses are heavy, hard not to notice, and driven by well-trained operators. This case illustrates that all motorists need to drive defensively, because you never know when the unthinkable, like someone driving the wrong way on a road, can happen. The fact that the passengers escaped serious injury is fortunate.
We Focus our Practice Exclusively on Wrongful Death and Critical Injury Cases – Contact a personal injury lawyer at The Lietz Law Firm by calling 866-554-1238 or learn more by visiting http://www.lietzlaw.com/.
