The Yuba City bus disaster occurred on May 21, 1976 in Martinez, California. The accident occurred at 11 a.m., as the bus, a 1950 Crown bus on its way to Miramonte High School in Orinda for a friendship day involving the choruses of Yuba City High School and Miramonte High School, took the off-ramp southbound from the Martinez-Benicia Bridge for a brief rest stop. The bus fell approximately 30 feet and landed upside-down, crushing the roof to the bottom of the bus windows. 29 of the 51 passengers on board were killed, including twenty-eight students and one teacher.
Although details were initially slow to appear, local, regional, and national newspapers and newsmagazines soon picked up the story.
To date, the Yuba City bus disaster is the worst bus crash in United States history involving a single bus.
Famous quotes containing the words city, bus and/or disaster:
“Today’s city is the most vulnerable social structure ever conceived by man.”
—Martin Oppenheimer (b. 1930)
“An actor rides in a bus or railroad train; he sees a movement and applies it to a new role. A woman in agony of spirit might turn her head just so; a man in deep humiliation probably would wring his hands in such a way. From straws like these, drawn from completely different sources, the fabric of a character may be built. The whole garment in which the actor hides himself is made of small externals of observation fitted to his conception of a role.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“When disaster waves, I try not to wave back.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)