14 Injured After Times Square Bus Collision
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
WNYC
Scene of tour bus crash in at W. 47 St. and 7 Ave
(Kate Hinds/WNYC)
Two double-decker tour buses collided in Times Square Tuesday
afternoon, knocking over a traffic light and injuring 14 people, three
of them seriously.
The Fire Department of New York said none of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening. "We believe that the traffic light did most of the injuries to the people standing in the area," said FDNY deputy chief Roger Sakowich. "And some of the flying debris from the light and from the buses."
Witness Orville Anderson said he was sitting on the steps outside the TKTS booth. "I heard a big boom," he said. "I saw the pole tumbling down onto the ground."
The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near W. 47th Street and Seventh Avenue. One bus, a red GrayLine, appeared to be partially on the sidewalk, its windshield completely empty of glass. A blue CitySights bus was stopped just ahead. A large traffic light lay in pieces on the sidewalk.
Kate Hinds/WNYC
The crash shut down a stretch of already-clogged Seventh Avenue that
had experienced a bomb scare earlier in the day. The FDNY said the
traffic made responding to the crash difficult. "Some of the units had
to get off their rigs and proceed on foot," said Sakowich. But an FDNY
spokesman said response time was four minutes.
"We were pretty fortunate," said Sakowich, "because the buses were
not fully occupied...one was completely empty and one had a tour guide
on it."
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the NYPD. A spokesperson for the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs said GrayLine and CitySights are licensed by DCA as sightseeing bus companies and must be inspected by the state's Department of Transportation.
David Chien, a spokesman for Twin America, the parent company which operates both of the tour buses involved in the crash, released a statement which said: “our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and we are cooperating with the authorities.”
The Fire Department of New York said none of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening. "We believe that the traffic light did most of the injuries to the people standing in the area," said FDNY deputy chief Roger Sakowich. "And some of the flying debris from the light and from the buses."
Witness Orville Anderson said he was sitting on the steps outside the TKTS booth. "I heard a big boom," he said. "I saw the pole tumbling down onto the ground."
The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near W. 47th Street and Seventh Avenue. One bus, a red GrayLine, appeared to be partially on the sidewalk, its windshield completely empty of glass. A blue CitySights bus was stopped just ahead. A large traffic light lay in pieces on the sidewalk.
Kate Hinds/WNYC
A pedestrian injured in the bus crash. Kate Hinds/WNYC
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the NYPD. A spokesperson for the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs said GrayLine and CitySights are licensed by DCA as sightseeing bus companies and must be inspected by the state's Department of Transportation.
David Chien, a spokesman for Twin America, the parent company which operates both of the tour buses involved in the crash, released a statement which said: “our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and we are cooperating with the authorities.”
Kate Hinds/WNYC
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Kate Hinds
Kate Hinds is an Associate Producer for WNYC News. She also reports for WNYC and Transportation Nation, a public radio reporting project that combines the work of multiple newsrooms to provide coverage of how we build, rebuild and get around the nation.
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