-
BLOWOUTS
Yesterday there was a horrible crash on I-40 not far from where we lived and based on eyewitness accounts a large church bus had a blowout in the left front tire. The bus crossed the median and struck a Tahoe, then a semi almost head on.
There were 8 fatalities, including the semi driver and the church bus driver.
The church bus driver was experienced, and possessed a Class A CDL. There are two lessons in this tragic accident for us. The first is to pay close attention to our tires and tire pressures. The best way to deal with a blowout is to prevent one.
But if one should occur make certain that as a driver you make all the right moves. The attached video is a very well spent 9 minutes and even if you have seen it, review it again so it reminds you of how to best cope with a sudden loss of tire pressure.
-
9 Replies
-
Jon,
I suspect they had a front tire blow out. I recently experienced a tag blow out after crossing a debris field of metal left by a junk truck truck with Sonoran registration, nuff said. The tag blow out was less than pleasant and I can only imagine the front, especially if the driver was not paying attention. The tire that exploded with me was two years old, maybe 15k on it……..recently moved from the front.
Thank gawd I was in a Prevost, I only did 15k worth of damage…I can only imagine that in my old CC Intrigue….total loss.
So what I am saying is watch your tires, even very good ones will blow out given the right set of circumstances, had I been running on 8 old shi%$ers who know’s what would have happened. 5 years, screw it, change em! BTW, even with a tag blow out, be ready for fishtailing…been there, done that!
Helen
-
The tire that blew out on the church bus was the left front and according to an eye witness that was immediately behind the bus, as soon as the tire blew, the bus headed into the median which was fairly deep at that location, and still carried the momentum to bring it through the cable guardrail and into the oncoming traffic on the opposing lanes of I-40, both vehicles were in the slow lane.
They will be trying to reconstruct the accident to determine if speed or mechanical issues contributed as well as checking the driver’s qualifications.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/oct/03/i-40-reopened-questions-begin/
-
Been there!! 3 yr old goodyear—– pressure pro good air. right front—- 74mph—– 89prevost —– I 75 north Macon Ga— center lane. Lets just say like driving down highway. Be cool turn your turn signals on and drive to side. Don’t panic! Don’t cram on Brakes! I was impressed! The bus didn’t pull on the steering wheel that I noticed. I was running on the rim!!! Sidewall failure. Prevost must have done something rite when they designed the front end. I have been driving heavy equipment all my life for a living /Cranes etc. I considered it a non event. Other than mad at Goodyear about tire..No more Goodyears for Me!! There was a black rubber streak on door of Toad–wd40 took it off. My prayers for those in Tn— for those reading this if it happens to you remain calm! Bob
-
It is sad to hear that so many lost their lifes. But those cable gaurds suck, I wished they would outlaw them, they wont stop shit other than something like a Smart/Dumb car.
Austin has gone to them to save money on the inner city divided roads.
-
Jon, do you know what type of bus was involved in the tragedy? From the news photo I saw it was a two axle rear engine bus. It did not look like a school bus, but I couldn’t make out more detail.
-
It looked like an airport shuttle type bus. There was so much damage none of the available photos were able to show who manufactured it. It was like the ones you see made by Bluebird, not for school use, but for limited commercial service.
-
Looks like a Van Hool to me.
-
I think Jon is probably correct. I’m pretty sure Van Hool never made a two axle bus. I’ve been concerned about the proliferation of buses built on medium duty truck chassis and the Freightliner ones that seem to be built on motorhome chassis. I won’t jump to conclusions about this tragedy, but the trend to lighter chassis 30-40 passenger buses seems wrongheaded to me. I hope I’m wrong, but a rollover accident in a light chassis bus might be a lot worse than a similar accident in a “real” bus, and I’m afraid that rollover is more likely in a light chassis bus.
But back to the topic of this thread, let’s all vigilantly maintain our tires so there is never a thread like this about an accident involving one of us.
-
Bryan,
You are probably right, I think. But Van Hool makes both two and three axle buses. And for quite a number of years.
As it happens, I too had a front tire blowout/explosion, left, that took me into the median strip which was relatively flat, fortunately for us, with no guardrail. I posted on it last year. The sandy desert terrain almost took the wheel out of my hands and nearly rolled the coach. I imagine where this accident took place the ground was softer. If so, I can understand why it went as it did.
Log in to reply.