Several Injured In UCSF Bus Crash On Potrero Hill
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5/BCN) -- A University of California, San Francisco shuttle bus was rear-ended Thursday morning near San Francisco General Hospital, sending at least three victims to local hospitals, a police spokesman said.
A white Toyota Camry apparently ran into a blue Honda Accord, which then ran into the UCSF shuttle on southbound Portrero Avenue near 22nd Street around 11:20 a.m., San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said.
Passengers at the scene said the shuttle had been rear-ended.
Fifteen victims were involved in the incident, Andraychak said.
The shuttle had been stopped at a red light at the time of the incident, according to a UCSF employee who was on the shuttle during the crash.
"We hit our heads on the headrest of the shuttle seats because we don't have seat belts in the shuttle," said the employee, who declined to give her name.
She said two of her UCSF coworkers and the shuttle driver were among those taken to the hospital, but that their injuries did not appear to be serious.
The airbags of the Toyota and Honda deployed, and the drivers in both cars were also transported to local hospitals to be treated for minor injuries, Andraychak said.
Officers shut down Portrero Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets shortly after arriving at the scene. The streets remained closed until about 1:30 p.m., Andraychak said.
The shuttle bus was on its regular route between the 16th Street BART station, the Mission Center, and San Francisco General Hospital, said Jon Gledhill, director of UCSF Transportation Services.
The shuttle buses take employees and patients throughout the UCSF campus network in San Francisco, covering 16 routes. The vans travel 1 million miles each year and carry 2.3 million passengers annually, according to officials at UCSF.
UCSF officials said that driver, working the "blue route" that runs between the university's Parnassus campus, Mount Zion Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital, had a clean driving record.
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