A bus accident that killed seven people — five of them college baseball players — and injured another 28 was caused by confusing highway signs, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Investigators say the bus driver, who was killed in the crash along with his wife, thought he was remaining in an HOV lane when, in fact, he’d entered a highway exit ramp. Officials blame the state’s Department of Transportation for not following federal guidelines for exit signs which require pairing them together to make them more clear.

Although Georgia officials claim they’d never received complains about the highway’s self luminous exit signs before the wreck, police records reveal that three drivers had previously had wrecks at the same location.

As a result of this accident, the NTSB is now recommending that the Federal Highway Administration take action on a proposal to require more clear, consistent signs — such as photoluminescent exit signs elsewhere around the country.

Investigators, not surprisingly, maintain the bus driver himself was at least partially at fault despite having a good record and no signs of a medical condition or fatigue. “He simply missed what route guidance was available,” they’ve said, and as a result he didn’t know to slow down as he came up the exit ramp.

Perhaps Georgia out to take a page from the Kansas DOT and go with blue signs to help drivers distinguish exits from all the other crap mentioned on highway signs?

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