Who:
Robert Rotta, 76, and Elizabeth, 35, his wife, were killed on Monday at around 9:33 PM on 5/5/14 in Kirkland, WA. They sat in a 2010 Ford Escape driven by Ken, 51, one of their sons, at the Northeast 128 St overpass. They were killed by a Sound Transit bus, a 2008 Gillig Phantom, driven by Aleksander Rukhlin, 54, and populated by around 35 passengers. Robert died at the scene, while Elizabeth died a few hours later. Ken survived with a broken rib and several cuts and bruises.
How:
Rotta was broadsided by the bus on the passenger side after the bus ran a red light. The bus was exiting I-405 at the time and traveling at 45 mph. The collision was reported by several passengers and the driver did not immediately stop. The driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and suggested the brakes failed. The State patrol requests felony charges be brought against the driver.
Why:
It is unclear why this collision occurred, although it appears to have resulted from a lapse of attention from the bus driver. Whatever the cause, it resulted in a tragic loss of life due to the overwhelming mass of the bus that crashed into the SUV.
The 2010 Ford Escape weighs ~3476 lbs and has a “good” side score. It comes with head and torso side airbags in the front seats and side head airbags in the rear seats. Its structural subscore was “acceptable.” The 2008 Gillig Phantom weighs ~36,220 lbs empty. With 36 occupants, it would have weighed approximately 42,000 lbs.
Given the likely speeds of the collision (45 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 4.13MJ of energy into the Escape / Bus. The standard side impact test simulates 143KJ of energy (a 3300-lb sled impacting a vehicle at 31 mph). In other words, the Escape faced 2888% of the force it would have experienced in the types of crashes cars are side rated for. It is sadly understandable that two victims succumbed to these forces, particularly since at least one of them must have been sitting in either the front or rear passenger seats, or directly at the point of impact.
What I find most remarkable about this collision is that any individual in the vehicle survived at all. This is one of the most severe side impact collisions I’ve calculated thus far, and I would not have expected any individuals to survive it. The driver did, however, with not much more than a broken rib. His position opposite the collision undoubtedly helped, as did his use of a seat belt and the structural integrity of the Escape. I have to imagine that the crash-absorbing structures in the bus played the lion’s share in his survival, as he should not have lived through this collision.
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