SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz police have determined the cause of an accident claiming the life of a campus bus driver after he crashed into historic lime kilns late last year came down to user error.
Dan Stevenson, who began working for the university in 2021 after 22 years as a Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District driver, was operating a shuttle bus with five passengers on the evening of Dec. 12. According to a press release issued Tuesday by UCSC Police Chief Kevin Domby, Stevenson had made several campus loops without incident earlier in his shift, and could be seen on video less than a minute before the crash with the bus’ lights, brakes and steering working as the bus made a right turn onto Coolidge Drive from Hagar Drive. The bus also had passed a regular California Highway Patrol inspection 90 days before the crash and underwent service Dec. 9, when the brakes were adjusted and the brake pads were replaced, according to Domby.
Stevenson’s commercial driver’s license and medical certificate were valid at the time of the crash, Domby said.
“For an unknown reason, the bus veered off the right roadway edge where it collided with signposts, fencing, and the rock wall of a lime kiln, where it came to a stop,” Domby wrote in his release.
In addition to Stevenson’s ultimately fatal injuries, five passengers on board were treated for moderate to severe injuries after the crash.
The accident raised concerns related to the safety of the aging campus shuttle fleet, with some pointing to a campus bus’ engine bursting into flames mid-transit a month earlier. In the wake of the crash, the university launched a safety audit of its 35-foot campus bus fleet.
“This crash was devastating for our shuttle driver, who lost his life, and for his family and friends and colleagues, who lost someone dear to them,” wrote Ed Reiskin, vice chancellor for finance, operations and administration, in a letter to the campus community Tuesday. “In addition to mourning the death of a cherished campus colleague and expressing concerns for the students on the shuttle, we all wanted to know what caused this crash. We appreciate our community’s patience and understanding while we sought to understand what happened.”
To assist with its investigation, UCSC Police brought in the CHP’s Coastal Division’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team to review the crash. The CHP team, after a mechanical inspection of the bus throttle operation, power train, tires and wheels, suspension and air brake system, “found no evidence of any damage or defect that would have contributed to the cause of the crash,” according to Domby.
The university intends to release the final investigation report via its UC Santa Cruz Newscenter on Friday, first allowing time for officials to distribute the report to the families of those involved in the accident, according to Reiskin’s letter.
“Absent any mechanical cause or direct evidence of any distraction, the investigation concluded that Mr. Stevenson failed to input sufficient steering to negotiate the left-hand curve resulting in the crash,” Domby wrote.
