SMART Bus Hits 6 Vehicles After Driver Falls Asleep: Police

A bus driver fell asleep at the wheel Monday and crashed into six vehicles, sending two people to the hospital, police in West Bloomfield said.

There was only one passenger on the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) bus at the time of the accident, which occurred just after 6 p.m. on Maple Road between Middlebelt and Inkster.

Neither the passenger nor the 65-year-old driver were injured, but a driver and passenger in one of the vehicles that was hit were taken to an area hospital with serious but non-threatening injuries, The Oakland Press and WWJ/CBS Local, report.

According to police, the bus was westbound on Maple Road when it crossed the center line and struck a vehicle, rear-ended another and then was struck by an eastbound vehicle. The bus struck four more vehicles before hitting a guardrail, police said.

The bus driver had not been drinking, police said. He told authorities he remembered falling asleep just before the first collision.

The investigation is continuing.

____

Photo: SMART Bus Facebook page.