A four-vehicle crash on Arapahoe Road, east of Boulder, put multiple people in the hospital. A 73-year-old RTD bus driver has been charged with careless driving.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, the driver rear-ended a commercial van that was stopped. It burst into flames as it became trapped between the bus and a semi flatbed truck. Both the van and the truck were reportedly stopped, with their hazard lights on, as they prepared to enter the driveway of a business.

A Chevy Malibu hit the back of the bus when it struck the vehicle in front of it. Investigators are still working to determine why the bus driver did not brake in time to avoid hitting the van in front of him as well as how fast he was driving at the time of the crash.

The driver of the van, a 25-year-old man, was first taken to Boulder Community Health’s Foothills Hospital. He was later flown to a University of Colorado Hospital located in Aurora. He was last reported to be in stable condition.

The driver of the Malibu wasn’t injured, but a passenger in the car was hospitalized. So was a passenger in the bus as well as its driver. The driver of the semi was not injured. He said, “Obviously you should never stop in the middle of a traffic lane, but there are times when you have to [in order] to get into a business.”

Multi-vehicle collisions can occur in just seconds when drivers are following closely behind one another or traveling at high speeds. All it takes is one person to stop suddenly to cause a chain reaction that injures multiple people. It can take some time for police and insurance companies to determine who was a fault. All of the information gathered in these investigations can be used by anyone who takes civil legal action against an at-fault driver to gain compensation for injuries and damages.

Source: Daily Camera, “RTD bus driver charged in fiery 4-vehicle injury crash that crumpled van east of Boulder,” Amelia Arvesen, March 20, 2017