Road signs replaced at site of Bluffton baseball team bus crash

10/5/2009

ATLANTA — Road signs at an Atlanta interstate highway exit ramp that officials say contributed to a bus accident that killed seven people have been replaced by signs that give drivers an earlier warning.

Two years ago, a charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team on I-75 exited the HOV through lane and climbed the exit ramp to the left at highway speed. It crashed into a concrete barrier and fell back onto the freeway.

Five players for the Ohio school's baseball team were killed, along with the bus driver and his wife.

Experts say drivers expect highway exits to be on the right, so when a lane breaks away on the left, sign designers must give extra care to warning drivers that it's an exit.