Littleton police are trying to determine how an RTD bus that was struck by a sport utility vehicle today travelled 900 feet up a hill before jumping a curb and hitting a tree.
The single passenger on the bus and the driver of the BMW were taken to a hospital for observation after the accident at 12:31 p.m.
“It is bizarre. Investigators haven’t figured out why the bus left the roadway after travelling up hill and hit a tree. It is a big tree, a conifer. There is a pretty significant trunk on it,” said Littleton police spokesman Sean Dugan.
The bus, with only one passenger aboard, was eastbound on Mineral Avenue and crossing Santa Fe Drive when the woman driving the BMW ran a red light and made a right turn into the bus, Dugan said.
The BMW driver will be ticketed for running a red light.
The bus driver wasn’t injured and suffered no medical problem that could have caused the accident.
Investigators are looking into whether a mechanical problem caused by the crash could have resulted in the collision with the tree.
“We don’t understand why the bus didn’t stop sooner,” Dugan said.
