The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded its investigation of a Big Spring crash in November 2021 that killed three and injured 50 others when a truck driving the wrong way hit a bus carrying the Andrews High School band.
The NTSB determined in its report the truck driver who hit the bus was traveling on the wrong side of the road but the NTSB does not know why.
The truck driver was not intoxicated, according to a toxicology report, and he was not on his phone to text or call, according to phone records.
The NTSB pulled surveillance videos from multiple businesses in Big Spring and footage showed the truck driver made a wrong turn which led him to begin traveling west on eastbound I-20. This was a one-way road and two one-way signs and a wrong-way sign, were posted all within 90 feet of the first wrong turn.
The driver then continued to travel the wrong way, entered exit 179 off-ramps for I-20, and passed two do-not-enter signs, and two wrong-way signs that were posted on either side of the base of the ramp. The driver also passed at least four cars, according to multiple 9-1-1 calls.
In total, seven traffic signs were passed before the accident.
The NTSB report concluded that improper signage did not contribute to this accident but TxDOT Abilene District will evaluate. One improvement includes ramps will have a wrong-way arrow that includes raised retro-reflective pavement markers displaying a reflected red light to wrong-way drivers.
A witness who was affiliated with Andrews ISD tried to warn the band director about the truck, but she heard the crash as she was making the phone call.
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