NTSB: No Mechanical Problems in Crash

Jerry Carnes, Tracey Christensen, Denis O'Hayer, Deloris Keith, Catherine Kim, Michael King, Blair Meeks, Elaine Reyes, Kevin Rowson, Josh Roseman, Jon Shirek, Minnie Bridgers, Julie Wolfe, and the 11Alive team of producers, editors, writers, and news managers contributed to 11Alive.com's Expanded Coverage.

NTSB: No Mechanical Problems in Crash

Sunday afternoon workers began replacing the fence along the Northside Drive overpass. The gaping hole marks the spot where a tour bus plunged onto I-75 below. As workers rebuilt that fence, the National Transportation Safety Board works on building a timeline of the events leading up to the crash.

NTSB spokeswoman Kitty Higgins laid out the timeline in a Sunday afternoon news briefing:

» 4:30 a.m. Jerome Neimeyer takes the wheel of the bus in Adairsville, Georgia.

» He drives 54 miles down I-75. Eyewitnesses say he was not talking on a cell phone or CB radio.

» Just before 5:30 a.m., Neimeyer takes the Northside Drive H.O.V. exit at highway speed (exact speed is not yet known). He went through the stop sign, hit the wall, and crashed through the fence.

Sunday, workers replace that fence piece by piece. Some pieces of the NTSB investigation are missing. Saturday, NTSB investigators discovered there was no black box.

Also Sunday, more disappointing news: no electronic recording device of any kind.

The accident was not captured on video. There are D.O.T. cameras in the area, but they are used for monitoring traffic and do not record any of the images onto tape.

The biggest piece of the puzzle, the bus, was not to blame. "After carefully going over the bus," Kitty Higgins from the NTSB said. "We've determined there was no mechanical error or anything that would have the performance of the vehicle."

The investigative team has already requested medical records from injured passengers. Autopsies have already been performed on the four players, bus driver, and driver's wife. Results won't be available for several weeks.

The NTSB investigation team is still looking into environmental factors including signage and highway engineering.

When questioned about that, Higgins said, "In my personal opinion, we should be talking with the state of Georgia to see what they can do in the interim, not necessarily a recommendation from us, but something to assure it's not business as usual in that intersection."

Higgins said they have already gathered preliminary statistics showing there have been approximately 80 accidents in that area over the last eight years.

She said they plan on comparing those accident numbers to other intersections throughout Atlanta to determine if there is a trend.

"Hind Sight is always 20/20," Higgins said. "I can't tell you how many accidents I've worked where it had to take a tragedy to make people pay attention."

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