An unoccupied Towson State University shuttle bus rolled backward down a hill yesterday, sped through a busy intersection during rush hour and crashed into three parked cars, demolishing two of them, Baltimore County police said. No one was injured.
"What was really unique about the accident was that this bus, at the peak rush hour time in Towson, rolled through the intersection without running into any other cars," said Officer Patrick M. Rooney, who investigated. "It must have had a green light."
About 8:15 a.m., Darlene Brogden of Baltimore, the bus driver, parked the vehicle on Cross Campus Drive, west of York Road.
"She said she set the parking brake, got off the bus and when she returned to the bus minutes later, it wasn't where she parked it," Officer Rooney said.
Rolling 230 feet from its parked position, the bus went down a hill toward York Road, picking up speed. It ran through the intersection of Cross Campus Drive and York Road and finally came to a stop when it slammed into cars parked in front of a fraternity house on Terrace Dale. A Mercedes-Benz and a Nissan Sentra were wrecked, and a Daihatsu Rocky with four-wheel drive was damaged, police said.
An inspection of the bus showed the brakes were in proper working condition, Officer Rooney said.
"Other than a one-time fluke malfunction, the only way this could have happened is if the brakes were not put in function and the transmission was set on drive," he said. "Even if the bus were in reverse, the brakes would have held it."
No one will be charged in the accident, police said.
Because no one was hurt, Officer Rooney found some humor in the runaway: "I would have loved to have seen the expression of the drivers stopped at the red light when the bus rolled through."