Four people died and four were injured in a major accident on the northbound lanes of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) near Puyan (埔鹽), Changhua County, yesterday morning when a United Bus Co passenger bus en route to Taichung from Tainan collided with more than a dozen cars.
Highway police said a large traffic jam had slowed traffic on the Changhua section of the freeway. A United Bus Co bus with 10 passengers driving on the Puyan section of the freeway could not stop in time as it approached slowing vehicles and slammed into 13 cars and one money transport vehicle.
A shaken but apparently unscathed motorist surnamed Chen (陳) said she heard a loud booming noise coming from behind her.
“I looked back and saw the bus smashing into the cars like a bowling ball into pins,” she said, adding that although she tried to maneuver out of the path of the bus, it still crashed into her car.
The bus driver, surnamed Su (蘇), who has about 20 years’ experience behind the wheel, said he was driving at about 70kph or 80kph at the time of the accident but could not recall the actual moment of the crash.
The injured were sent to four hospitals in Changhua.
Directorate General of Highways (公路總局) Director-General Lin Tyh-Ming (林志明) said the United Bus Co vehicle was new and that the driver had no record of major traffic violations. If the bus company is found guilty of neglect, it could be fined NT$90,000 or have its vehicle registration suspended for three months.
RSS