Passengers From the Tourist Bus Accident May 12 Tell Their Tale

On carrying 46 passengers appeared to have lost brake power coming down Woodinville’s Winery Hill and careened over traffic circles before coming crashing into boulders in front of Plants Northwest nursery.

No one was seriously injured, according to David Weed, spokesman for Woodinville Fire & Rescue, but two people in a car that was hit by the bus were transported to Evergreen hospital as a precautionary measure. 

The passengers on board the bus were on a day trip from chartered by the Princess Cruise ship, Sapphire Princess. Two of the passengers, Judie Rogers and Reg Moore shared their experiences in emails to Patch. Both praised the determination of the bus driver to keep the bus upright and the hospitality of people at Plants Northwest and Woodinville Lavender that aided bus passengers. Here are the unedited accounts from the two passengers (attached as a PDF to the story is Reg Moore’s report to Princess):

 “My husband and I were just commenting on how the bus sounded like it was falling apart. There were numerous loud noises that were not normal.  My husband had even commented that the bus was so old it didn't even have a bathroom in it.

As we started the decent done the hill, we heard ‘Oh S...t,’ hang on. The tour guide, Cesar, [we] thought he was kidding at first, but the driver said the brakes were gone. He tired the emergency brake and tried to go into lower gears to slow down and nothing worked. 

We just kept hearing, ‘hold on, hold on.’ He said he went through the roundabout to try to slow us down because of the dirt and nothing work. We flew by numerous signs that we ran into. When we went over the railroads tracks, we were actually in the air. 

The emergency door was right behind my seat and it kept flying open and shut. I think it finally hit something and may have fallen off. Not sure on that, it finally stopped opening and closing. 

We were very afraid that the bus was going to roll over. Trevor (bus driver) said he was trying to find a level shoulder to put the bus on to stop it and he finally did. 

Everyone on the bus remained very calm through the whole ordeal. We were all just in shock about what was going on. 

All those articles that you read over the years flash through your head, tour bus crashed, four killed, tour bus flips, etc. We all on the bus were also worried about the people we hit and were hoping they were okay. 

We did in fact applaud the driver when we finally stopped. We were all happy to be alive.  There were some minor injuries to people on the bus, nothing serious.  The emergency help did what they could. They were very concerned.

The guys at the Lavendar farm were great.  They opened their house up for the restroom and brought chairs out for people to sit, offered water, anything they could do for us.

We sat around for about an hour or a little more and the tour company then sent another bus to pick us up and take us back to the ship.  They did not give us the option to continue on to the winery.  Once we got back to the ship, one of the tour people came on, said sorry, and they would refund our money. If we were hurt, the doctor is in at 4:30 [p.m.].  I think it was about 2:30-3:00 at that time.  Then said of course, if its an emergency, call 911.  They told us we could fill out a comment card and they would be read and he hoped it would be constructive criticism and not just bad stuff. That was it for the ship's concern. I was surprised that they did not check everyone of us out to make sure we were okay, just for the future.

I am very bruised on my entire left side, I was sitting by the window and guess I kept hitting the side of the bus.  Both my husband and I are also bruised where our shins hit the foot rests.  The first day, my back hurt, but the next day it was okay. All and all though, we are happy to be alive. We were surprised though about how Princess handle it.

 Here are a few things:

• Tthe kindness to the passengers by the nursery owner where we stopped was commendable. He opened his house to anyone needing assistance and brought out chairs for the elderly.
• The bus company employees, Caesar and Trevor, were superb in handling the incident. It was not the driver’s (Trevor) fault that the brakes failed and he responded with a calm efficiency. We applauded him once we had settled down as we realized then, he saved our lives as we all could have perished.
• Other than a refund of our wine tour bus ticket, Princess has disappeared from view.