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EVERETT, Wash. -- Eleven senior citizens taking a bus for a nice jaunt to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Wednesday morning had their day cut short when their driver was arrested for impaired driving.



Gilbert Maier, a 45-year-old volunteer with the Snohomish Senior Center, had picked up 11 passengers in their 16 passenger van and began their trip west around 11:30 a.m., but things went wrong right from the start, according to Trooper Mark Francis.



"Immediately as he started driving he was doing things like driving over curbs, driving over roundabout curbs, he ran at least two stop signs and (had) really bad lane travel," Francis said.



As they headed onto Highway 2 to head west toward I-5, the driver had a bad lane change and almost took out a jersey barrier.



"I was beginning to get scared not only for myself but for the van," said Patricia Ellis, who was on the bus. "I know how valuable that van is to us."



Passengers noticed that just ahead of them was a motorcycle trooper that had just finished a traffic stop on another driver. Francis says one of the senior citizens pointed out to the trooper to the driver and demanded: "All right, you're stopping right here!"



The driver slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the shoulder, nearly hitting the motorcycle trooper and another jersey barrier, Francis said. The trooper looked over to see four senior women come off the bus who began immediately complaining to him how bad the driving has been.



"He was all over the road and I could just see us crashing," Ellis said.



The trooper investigated the driver and found he was showing signs of impairment for medication, so he was placed under arrest for investigation of driving under the influence of prescription medication and 11 counts of investigation of reckless endangerment, Francis said.



Another bus came to pick up the seniors to take them back to the senior center.



"They were pretty happy (the driver) stopped; they were pretty ticked they didn't get to go to the Tulip Festival," Francis said.



Francis credited the seniors for taking charge of the situation.



"Kudos to the seniors for making him stop," he said. "I wish some of us passengers when we get into a car with someone who shouldn't be driving; we should be just as crazed and demanding that we get out of cars in situations like that."





The seniors told police they have been driven by Maier before and he was a good driver.

