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ACCIDENTS
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If I’m not mistaken, GM Coach PD 4104 did not have parking brakes, unless they had been modified, they had hand brakes.
GQ
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I also do not know the GM brake system but if the crash shredded the air lines from the brake treadle you would not be able to send pilot air to the brake valves thus no braking. Also if the primary brake system were otherwise intact the existing air in the system would prevent the emergency/park brakes from engaging. Thoughts?
Doug
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I’m not knowledgeable enough to know this answer, but can only wonder how the Prevost Aware system may have changed this scenario? Would it have braked a fraction of a second sooner than human intervention and if so, could it have kept the bus from going into the ravine?
(Note to John and Tom: The word “Prevost” is not in your spell check library. You may want to add it manually).
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Lots of questions, will try to answer the ones I can. First, the bus in question is a 1964 GM-4106. My previous coach was a 1959 GM-4104 and there were many similarities. On coaches of that era, unless modified by some previous owner along the way, most likely all they would have other than the service brakes, would be an ICC emergency braking system (not spring brakes). Hence the reference to a hand brake, but really that would only be a brake drum on the drive shaft. So, with that kind of front end damage, it is true there would be no braking. But he could perhaps have used the ICC brake which would be activated by hitting a small air switch, and that would have ported all available air to the rear service brakes. However… again, I would note that over the years, systems may have been modified by previous owners. Obviously, I don’t know what was actually on that particular bus.
Harry, you asked where we found the narrative by the bus owner. We got that from another bus conversion forum, the Bus Conversion Magazine Bulletin Board.
Kirby
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Just a thought about Dan and Judy’s accident. I wonder what kind of incredible shock did the tow bar and baseplate endure on their towed Jeep. I know they made home, but the long haul in future, I would replace both for piece of mind
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Jon, it looks like the video from your link has been removed from YouTube. I just wanted to show a fell Prevost owner how quickly disaster can strike. As you commented, if we aren’t paying attention and have our belts buckled as this video showed you have very little time to react.
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I see the video is not available right now.
I watched it several times earlier and what caught my attention was that the bus owner honked his horn just before the white van passes as he must have seen the Honda Civic coming in the distance towards him.
But, he doesn’t veer into the emergency lane to lessen the impact. Now, I’m not criticizing his reaction as I’m sure the video doesn’t show everything, I just noticed the horn honk way before the car comes into his lane.
I’m sure the video was discussed to a lengthy end on the other site where Jon found it.
Mark
PS. Our insurance is up for renewal and a phone call to Miller Insurance today shows that National Interstate is out of the bus insurance business and we have been given a choice with Safeco (a Liberty Mutual Company). I will call them tomorrow for the particulars. Our deductible is being reduced from $5K to $2K. I’m going to price an ‘agreed value’ to ‘cash value’.
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As I recall from the video, there wasn’t much room to the right of the bus to move to. Narrow shoulder. In a split second you’ve got a quick make a decision. What if the car had swerved hard to its left (bus’s right) and try to take the ditch. By moving to its right the bus could have cut that route off.
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Kirby may want to add to this but based on the discussion on another forum the video was pulled down because others posted how lawyers could twist what the video showed into proof the bus owner did not do enough to prevent the accident.
The short version is the armchair lawyers on that site spoke heavily against dash cams and probably scared the bus owner.
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While that video was shocking, it’s a stark reminder to all drivers about the perils of distracted driving. Personally, after nearly 40 years and owning multiple bikes, I stopped riding motorcycles five years ago as I was seeing a rapid increase in distracted drivers and erratic driving patterns on the highways.
I fully understand why the Lawyers pulled that video offline. I was surprised it stayed up more than a few hours.
On a somewhat related note, I can only wonder if the Prevost Aware system would have created no doubt the bus applied the brakes at the split second a collision was imminent.
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Again, I didn’t want to criticize the actions of the owner, things happen so fast and trying to anticipate the actions of the other car can be a throw of the dice. The horn honking caught my attention.
The Prevost Aware system that we have would have certainly slowed the coach down by the transmission gearing down, the dashboard lighting up like a Christmas tree and alarm sounding.
Wishing the bus owner the best of luck, terrible situation for both parties as it was a serious accident with a death involved.
Mark
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