Tourist Bus Takes Out All Three Roundabouts in the Tourist District

A tourist bus experiencing mechanical failure Thursday afternoon ran over two of the and hit at least two cars before being able to come to a stop, according to Woodinville Fire & Rescue spokesman, David Weed.

The bus headed down Winery Hill on 173^rd Place by at about 1:40 p.m. and seemed to have no braking capabilities as it approached the traffic circle at . The large tourist bus with 46 passengers drove directly across the roundabout, trampling the landscape, Weed said. Apparently still unable to stop, the bus did manage to navigate the large traffic circle at NE 145^th and Woodinville-Redmond Road (SR 202), turning south out of the circle onto Woodinville-Redmond Road (SR 202).

Still not able to come to a stop, the bus continued down the road and hit the third traffic circle, destroying landscaping and causing an irrigation pipe to break, before hitting two boulders on the side of the road and coming to a stop in front of Plants Northwest nursery.

No one in the bus was injured; two people in a Volvo that were hit by the bus at the first traffic circle were taken to Evergreen Hospital as a precautionary measure, according to Weed.

“This could have been a lot worse if it had happened any other time of day or on the weekend,” said Sydney Jackson, Woodinville police chief. “I understand the passengers were applauding the driver for keeping the bus upright.”

The incident is under investigation by Woodinville Police and no more details are available.