Wanted to share this sad news from the Bus Grease Monkey Board
One of our members posted:
I believe this person to be Cris Garcia. Some of you may have met her in Blytheville in 2019. They have not released the name as yet, but I am fairly sure that is her coach. She had posted June 1 on FB that she was near Farmington, NM which is only 130 miles from this crash. So, I have a terrible feeling this was Cris. She was was a lovely young woman who was a very talented photographer. I think she was about 1 hour from her destination.
Article
Sad but that was Cris bus a friend of Anna told me yesterday, she loved that old bus and the life style,They seem to think she lost a tire or something on the suspension gave way is all she said
One of the pics on FB showed high speed tire slide, not locked wheels, and no gouging in asphalt.
Until the report comes out, it would be good for everyone to review downhill operations and keep your applied brake stroke tightly maintained.
Happy coaching!
Buswarrior
We go across 141 sometimes from Whitewater to Grand Junction,Sonja like to stop in Dove and buy pinto beans' It is a scenic byway and really sharp curves along the canyons, it is nice drive but slow and curves are not marked good you may have 1 sign "curves ahead " it is hard to believe a guard rail could do that much damage to a bus
Quote from: luvrbus on June 05, 2021, 05:15:39 PM
it is hard to believe a guard rail could do that much damage to a bus
I feel the side of the hill/rock did most of the damage.
Very sad story.
I looked into it a bit more just to try to learn something. That section of road is near 6% and the bus hit the rocks on the apex of a hairpin turn. The image below shows four distinct tire marks, braking or sliding I'm not qualified to judge.
It is clear from the images in the twitter link that the bus slammed into the rocks on the driver front and side.
https://twitter.com/SheriffAlert/status/1400522634094338048/photo/2
Has anyone ever followed up on something like this to review the final investigation reports? It would be helpful to know what sorts of things can go wrong and cause such terrible crash.
The bus was obviously in a right turn, since the marks curve to the right and the left side marks are much darker. Also the left sides of the marks are darker. Marks will only be left if there is a lot of horizontal force from the tire on the road, either from braking or a hard turn. If skidding, the marks are straight and the width of the tire, so from the limited pictures I guess little or no braking and going way too fast for the curving road. I don't see any evidence of tire or steering malfunction but there could have been brake malfunction.
Buses are just not safe for crashing, please make sure you keep your buses maintained and drive carefully!
Quote from: hogi6123 on June 06, 2021, 06:19:51 AM
The bus was obviously in a right turn, since the marks curve to the right and the left side marks are much darker. Also the left sides of the marks are darker. Marks will only be left if there is a lot of horizontal force from the tire on the road, either from braking or a hard turn. If skidding, the marks are straight and the width of the tire, so from the limited pictures I guess little or no braking and going way too fast for the curving road. I don't see any evidence of tire or steering malfunction but there could have been brake malfunction.
Buses are just not safe for crashing, please make sure you keep your buses maintained and drive carefully!
Yep buses of yesteryears the brakes were designed for 45 to 55 mph.I feel bad for her husband the fear and sorrow he had watching the crash and could not do anything to help>if I remember that bus had the VS automatic and they have no way of gearing down to use the engine for braking help
2 things. how did the roof get mashed in, and why are twitter comments so harsh (see pic)
Quote from: 6805eagleguy on June 06, 2021, 11:42:27 AM
2 things. how did the roof get mashed in, and why are twitter comments so harsh (see pic)
The lower part of the bus is not pushed in but the upper part is. There had to be a rock outcropping on the other side of the ditch behind the guardrail that caught the bus at the upper corner just in front of the driver. I am pretty sure that's what stopped the bus and caused most of the damage you see.
Quote from: 6805eagleguy on June 06, 2021, 11:42:27 AM
2 things. how did the roof get mashed in, and why are twitter comments so harsh (see pic)
The comments were just as bad on F/B why people do that is beyond me,the young lady lost her life and her husband was a witness sad indeed
It looks like the guardrail pushed the right side of bus up, basically rolling it on its left side. Half of the left wall is torn out and hanging in a mass on the rock. At that point, the guardrail coming back down and the rebound off the rock allowed the bus to come back mostly level.
Quote from: hogi6123 on June 06, 2021, 12:56:36 PM
It looks like the guardrail pushed the right side of bus up, basically rolling it on its left side. Half of the left wall is torn out and hanging in a mass on the rock. At that point, the guardrail coming back down and the rebound off the rock allowed the bus to come back mostly level.
There is not much protection on the front of the older buses doesn't take much to rip the front off,fire and a head on collision was always my greatest fear the years I owned buses
If the bus could not use the transmission as a brake and it had no jakes then the bus had to reply 100% on the wheel brakes? That is putting all your trust in the brakes and no backup system.
Often the wheel brakes are the last action I take to slow my bus. Between the jakes on full and the tranny shifted down, it really keeps the bus slowed down nearly all of the time. I will hit the brakes when it may creep up speed or car in front, etc.
The article stated the person was pinned in so much of the odd things like the cabin debris and open sides could very well be part of what the emergency crew did to bring her out.
A question for the bus drivers out there. How stable is a bus in sharp turns, will a bus slide before flipping? I've always wondered but never let mine get anywhere near going too fast or feeling tippy at all.
Quote from: windtrader on June 06, 2021, 06:06:09 PM
A question for the bus drivers out there. How stable is a bus in sharp turns, will a bus slide before flipping? I've always wondered but never let mine get anywhere near going too fast or feeling tippy at all.
This is a tragedy. My prayers go out for all involved and especially the husband. I cannot even imagine...
This is not my profession or even something I've studied, but I have been present at quite a few, real-life accident reconstructions.
With the limited info from those few pictures, the evidence points to the bus sliding at an angle off the road (guessing about 45*) with the drivers corner leading and the passenger side front tire in the air.
There are three tire tracks, or if you want to count the duals individually, five. I am fairly positive the two light ones further to the right in the above picture are from a previous car accident. You can see both pairs of duals especially well where the skid marks cross the white line. And they are only slightly closer to each other than the front tire skid mark is to them. Knowing the wheel base would allow one to calculate the exact angle that the bus was sliding sideways, but there is no other way to get the front wheel skid mark out in front of both rear duals. The gravel marks off the edge of the pavement also point to the same conclusion.
Also must be a nasty spot in the road
Slick Rock Hill is over 6500 ft in elevation with a steep grades coming down it takes awhile to drive 141 for 150 miles a nice scenic drive but it will keep you busy,they have changed the number now on 666 it intersected Sonja never liked the 666 number for the highway
Tragic. Road is unforgiving. Reminder to continue studying and learning. Prayers going out to friends & family.
Kind regards, Phil