BLUFFTON, OHIO A remembrance service was conducted at Bluffton University early this month to mark the fifth anniversary of the fatal bus crash that has forever changed motorcoach safety.

The March 2, 2007, crash killed five players on the universitys baseball team, plus the bus driver and his wife.

Members of that 2007 Bluffton team attended the remembrance, which included scripture readings by James Grandey, the head baseball coach then and now, and alumnus Tim Berta, who was among those seriously injured.

From the moment it occurred at 5:38 in the morning, the Bluffton University baseball team bus crash was a horrific, tragic and landmark event.

Driver Jerry Niemeyer was behind the wheel of a 45-foot Van Hool owned by Executive Coach Luxury Travel of Ottawa, Ohio, that clear, calm morning, when he mistakenly veered onto a left-hand exit ramp on I-75 in metro Atlanta.

The ramp rose to a wide elevated road Northside Drive -- and a T-junction marked by a stop sign.

Traveling at highway speed and without braking, the bus swerved rightward across the road, attempting to go southbound on Northside Drive. Unable to make the turn, it hit a low barrier wall, which caused the back end of the coach to swing around to the right, pointing it due north.

The momentum of the swing caused the entire right side of the bus to crash into and then over the low wall and through a chain-link security fence on top of it.

The coach then flipped and rotated, dropping 19 feet to the freeway below, landing on its left side and hitting a pickup truck.

The pickup driver, who rapidly accelerated when he saw the bus plunging, was not hurt, but five passengers died, plus Niemeyer and his wife, who was sitting behind him. Seven others were seriously injured and 21 passengers received minor injuries.

Niemeyer, 65, was a relief driver who seemingly had spent a restful night in a motel before getting behind the wheel at 4:30 a.m.

The chartered coach was carrying the Bluffton team from Ohio to a tournament game during spring break in Sarasota, Fla.

Many of the players and other passengers were sleeping or dozing when the crash occurred. Some reportedly were sprawled across seats and even sleeping in the aisle. The violence of the crash threw passengers everywhere.

Almost immediately, there were passionate outcries from a wide range of individuals, including parents, safety advocates, politicians and others, about the need for seatbelts on the Bluffton bus and on motorcoaches generally.

In fact, the industrys accelerating transition during the past five years to seatbelts on most new coaches can be traced directly to the Bluffton crash and its aftermath.

Doctors from Grady Memorial Hospital, where many of the crash victims had been taken, began phoning congressmen from Ohio and Georgia soon after the accident, urging them to push for legislation mandating seatbelts on charter buses.

Parents John and Joy Betts became outspoken advocates for bus safety legislation, prevailing on U.S. senators in Ohio and Texas to introduce the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2007, a far-reaching bill that is still being pushed in the Senate and the House.

A competing bill, favored by much of the industry, is pending in the House.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which conducted an extensive investigation of the crash, concluded that contributing to the severity of the accident was the motorcoachs "lack of an adequate occupant protection system."

The NTSB identified four major safety issues related to the crash: Inadequate HOV traffic control devices, inadequate motor carrier driver oversight, lack of event data recorders on motorcoaches, and "lack of motorcoach occupant protection."

The Bluffton crash prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop a broad-based bus safety initiative and conduct crash testing of motorcoaches for the first time.

Out of that testing the safety agency has proposed seatbelts be mandated for all new motorcoaches. A final seatbelt rule could be issued this year.

Also under consideration by NHTSA are standards for roof strength and window glazing.

"The impact of these tragic accidents can last for decades," observed UMA Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ken Presley.