Evening star., 1942-10-09
Driver bIa1les
Brake Failure
For Accident
Interstate Vehicle
Rams Capital Transit
Machine Heud-On

Two buses crashed head-on
shortly after l o'clock this after
noon on K street NV, near Six
teenth street, and more than q
score of passengers were re-
moved to District hospitals.
First reports set the number OF
injured at 81 and hospital attaches
said none was critically hurt. There
were approximately 40 passengers on
the two vehicles.
Involved in the accident was an
interstate railways bus and q
Capital Transit city bus. The Trail
ways bus was bound west on K
street, while the Capital Transit bus
had just completed left turn from
Sixteenth into K street.
A passenger car crashed into the
rear of the Capital Transit bus, but
police had little information on the
extent of the damage to this car
The automobile drivers name was
given as Joseph B. Latimer, 1928
Sixteenth street NV.
The driver of the Trailways bus,
whose name was given as Harry
Edward Dwyer, 20, IS M street NV.
said his brakes had failed.
Pulled From Behind Cars.
He was approaching Sixteenth
street and came up behind line OF
automobiles, waiting at the red light
on Sixteenth, he said. When he
applied his brakes they failed to
catch and-rather than pile into the
automobiles from behind-he swung
out of the line of traffic on to the
other side of the street, the driver
related.
At that moment the Capital Tran
sit bus swung into K street from
Sixteenth and the two vehicles
rammed together. The front ends
Of both buses were badly damaged.
The Capital Transit driver was
identified as Coleman H. Dameron,
AZ, 615 Franklin street NE. He suf-
fered injuries, not believed serious.
Mr.. Dwyer told police he had
stopped his bus suddenly just a
block from the scene of the crash
when an automobile cut him off. He
had shifted gears and had just got
ten into high gear-proceeding at a
low rate of speed-when he started
to apply his brakes again for the
stop between Fifteenth and Six
teenth streets.
Driver for IA Years.
Police charged Mr.. Dwyer with
driving on the wrong side of the
street. He had been driving a bus
for four months, but said he had IA
years experience driving automo-
biles.
The other driver told police he
had just made his turn with the
green arrow when he came face to
face with the railways bus. He
applied his brakes and yelled Hold
on" to his passengers. He had five
years experience as a bus driver
with Capital Transit.
According to James M. Day, Gen.
treville, Va, passenger on the
railways bus, the driver of that We
hicle tried to apply his emergency
brake, but it did not take effect
either.
When the emergency failed" Mr..
Day said, "the driver said 'uh-oh'
and then we hit the other bus"
All available ambulances and
Rescue Squads were rushed to the
scene Of the accident. Injured were
removed to Emergency, Casualty
and Doctors Hospitals.
Crowd Gathers Quickly.
Hundreds of persons from the
lunch-hour crowd in the business
district were attracted to the scene
and police reinforcements were
summoned to handle the situation.
The facilities of Emergency Hos
pital were strained by the arrival of
the injured there. Doctors on duty
in all parts of the hospital were sum-
moned to the emergency room. Tel
ephone calls from hundreds of per-
sons came in, seeking the identity of
the injured.
Ambulances were running from the
accident scene to the hospitals and
returning for more of the injured.
One of the new stretcher-equipped
police squad cars was pressed into
service.
The railways bus was bound for
Culpeper, Va, and had left the sta
ton at Twelfth street and New York
avenue at pm. The Capital Tran
sit bus was an So, bound for Eighth
street and Pennsylvania avenue
NV. There were said to be 10 pas
sergers on the local bus and about
20 on the interstate bus.
Two passengers were taken to
Doctors Hospital. They were listed
as Miss Margaret Bullard, SO, of
(See CRASH, Page 2-x0