Fatal Accident

[luvrbus]

The bolt on stabilizers seem to be a toss up with bus owners a few I know like those the others have removed the units.I have one on the RV and I am not that impressed with it I am thinking about removing it 

[lostagain]

You have to rehears in your mind over and over again what you are going to do in case of a front tire blow out. So that if it happens, you don't panic and loose it. Just let off the accelerator, stay off the brakes, down shift, keep it going straight.

The same with having to brake hard: practice in your mind not swerving. Stay in a straight line.

JC

[PRZNBUS]

This is my biggest fear, a blowout taking directional control away from me.

Since I like to understand the cause/effect -
I would really like to know the timeline details from the blowout to impact. Were brakes applied? Was the driver distracted? Was the road shoulder soft? etc. . .

Would also like to know the history of the tire that failed - Age?, inflation vs. loading?, was it ever flat?, was it ever patched or plugged? etc . . . .

Super valid questions. We can't assume everything was normal and it just blew out. It is very sad but when your time is up there is nothing that's going to save you. Being a deputy I respond to many accidents which involve fatalities, most during the Sturgis Rally. It's Gods will.

Bruce

[TomC]

Things I had to learn when driving a big rig-and these apply to driving a bus.
-The last resort is to brake. When on ice, rain, etc. When going over a bridge in icy weather, the easiest is to push in the clutch or get the power to neutral where you're neither accelerating or decelerating.
-Don't swerve! Hardest thing was to train to hit that animal-course a big deer, or buffalo maybe different. But a dog or cat, run over them.
-Always keep sufficient distance from the car/truck in front of you. Buses have inferior brakes now compared to cars. Most new buses how have disc brakes. In a year or so, all vehicles will have to have disc brakes to come up to federal braking standards.
-Check your tires inside and out visually for any imperfections. Check tire pressure often. Everytime you stop, take a walk around the bus and feel the temp of the tires. A warmer running tire maybe problem-usually low in pressure. Tire pressure is the most important aspect to tire safety. Heat build up will cause tire failure-caused by low pressure. A wireless tire pressure monitoring system for both the bus and the towed is essential.
-Keep brakes adjusted-if they are not self adjusting. I like not having self adjusters-it forces me under the bus to inspect things.
Any bus is the most safest on the road. Course contact with a tree, or back of a truck isn't good. Good Luck, TomC

[kyle4501]

The last blow-out I had was only minutes after a close visual inspection at the rest area. I was checking it because it was a spare tire that was older than the others. It had been running perfect & everything checked fine.

Bottom line - you do your best & stuff can still happen.

Best advice I can give - try hard, very hard to NOT OVER CORRECT ! ! ! ! ! That is how swaying takes over - that is one circus you don't want to be a part of.

Also, along with what Tom C said - don't worry about what you may hit, FOCUS on where you want to go!

[eagle19952]

I/be thankful this was not a steer tire...

[Oonrahnjay]

I/be thankful this was not a steer tire...   ...   

    OOohh, yeah -- that's bad.  Did pieces of that tire do any damage to your bus when it came apart?

[eagle19952]

    OOohh, yeah -- that's bad.  Did pieces of that tire do any damage to your bus when it came apart?

Very very minor. The irony is that I had a tire on my bogey axle that scalloped and being in west nowhere I had my "spare" put on and finished my last 100 miles on that tire.
The tire "looks" good...doesn't it ? No weather check, decent tread....severely out dated tho.
hence the moral of the story....roll that outdated "spare" in the ditch...

That is the tire that exploded, 105 psi. sitting still, parked a week later
needless to say my steers were replaced and now reside on my bogey axle.

[Jeremy]

Very bad bus crash on France overnight with 40 elderly people killed. Bus caught fire after being hit by truck. Not sure what kind of bus except that it was on an 'excursion', so a coach rather than a transit presumably. Pictures on the BBC website so far only show ambulances and fire appliances

Jeremy

[Oonrahnjay]

Very very minor. The irony is that I had a tire on my bogey axle that scalloped and being in west nowhere I had my "spare" put on and finished my last 100 miles on that tire.
The tire "looks" good...doesn't it ? No weather check, decent tread....severely out dated tho.
hence the moral of the story....roll that outdated "spare" in the ditch...

That is the tire that exploded, 105 psi. sitting still, parked a week later
needless to say my steers were replaced and now reside on my bogey axle. 

    It's good that there was no major damage done, and that your "learning experience" wasn't too expensive.  Thanks for the info - another good data point in the discussion of dates on tires.  (PS - there is a shop just down the road from my storage spot that was selling used car tires.  I noticed that some of them had 2001 and 2002 dates stamps on them.  Russian roulette ...)

[Jeremy]

More info on the French crash:




At least 43 people, most of them pensioners on a day trip, have been killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck in south-west France.

The crash happened on a country road near Puisseguin in the Gironde wine region, east of Bordeaux. Both vehicles then caught fire.

France's president promised a full investigation into what he called an "immense tragedy".

It is the worst French road disaster since 1982, when 52 people died.

The bus collided with the timber truck at 07:30 local time (05:30 GMT), at what local residents described as a notoriously dangerous bend in the road

Both vehicles quickly caught fire. Local people reported seeing a plume of smoke from several kilometres away.

Video on French television showed two blackened vehicles, with the bus facing the wood-transporter's trailer, its cab skewed to one side.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls, speaking from the scene, said the victims had died "in atrocious conditions".

"It's a terrible shock for France," he added.

Eight people survived, four of whom were in a serious condition

Local MP Gilles Savary told RTL radio (in French) that one of the injured was a motorist who had stopped at the scene and tried to rescue people.

Regional officials said the bus driver had survived the crash but the lorry driver was among the fatalities.

The body of the lorry driver's three-year-old son was also found in the cabin of his vehicle, local media reported.

Officials say it will take a long time to recover all the bodies.
Day trip

The exact cause of the crash is unclear, but Puisseguin mayor Xavier Sublett told the radio that the lorry driver had lost control leaving him "stranded in the middle of the road". The bus driver tried to avoid the lorry but was in collision with it, he added.

Other reports said the bus driver then managed to open the doors and get some passengers off the bus.

Most of those on board were members of an elderly people's association from the small town of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps, which has a population of just 700, along with others from neighbouring communities.

They were at the start of their journey, and were heading south for a day trip into the Landes region.

Town councillor Jeremiah Bessard told the iTele channel that its residents had been hit hard by the news: "We all knew someone." The flags in Puisseguin have been lowered to half mast.

President Francois Hollande, who is on a visit to Athens, said the government had "fully mobilised" to deal with the tragedy, and said he had been "plunged into sadness".


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34613637

[belfert]

My spare is a brand new tire from 1997.  I should probably get a newer one, but I always figured I would get a new tire right away if I had to use it.  However, I could be a long ways from any place that carries an 11R24.5 as they aren't that common.

[Oonrahnjay]

My spare is a brand new tire from 1997.  ..

      Brian, I wouldn't even inflate that tire as it sits in the shop, much less ever mount it on a vehicle and try to drive on it.  Maybe that's too conservative, but it's how I feel about old tires.

[eagle19952]

      Brian, I wouldn't even inflate that tire as it sits in the shop, much less ever mount it on a vehicle and try to drive on it.  Maybe that's too conservative, but it's how I feel about old tires.

see photo above

[edvanland]

Eagle thanks for the photo. 5 years ago coming from Colorado Springs home to AZ  on I 25 had the outside driver come apart. Heard the noise and looked in the rear view mirror to see the whole rear tread flying down the left hand lane with a small car coming at it. I cringed and luckily it missed ever car and I was able to get safely off the highway and into a safe spot. Got out to check things out and the tire had not gone flat just threw the tread, no damage to the bus except a small bend in the wheel well molding. Had Triple AAA send a tire man out but he did not have a spare so he led me into Santa Fee NM to a tire store. Went to bed and the next morning was just going to get two new steer tires and move the old to the back. Long story short he said did you know those tires are 13 years old, will not say what I said, but told him to put 6 new tires on, was going to do all 8 but he said just leave the tags alone. The 13 year old tires look as good as the new ones and had no weather checking on either side. The bus is kept in a garage, I know I am lucky for that. That made a believer out of me. No one hurt, just the wallet, and as said due to my trucking experience I did not hit the brakes just let off the throttle and concentrated on keeping it straight and finding a place to pull over safely. Even though the bus did not swerve or anything I know better than to hit the brakes or panic. Do not want that again.
EDMCI 7