-
Crazy trip with wreck!
I just got back from a trip to Houston with the Shenandoah band. I went along with my buddy in his 96 XL. On the way back, we had just passed Beaumont. Most of us were in bunks asleep. The driver and two band members were up front. All of a sudden the who bus jerked to the side and woke us all up! I went to the front and was told that we had just been hit by a fireball! Of course, I didn’t understand what happened. We had been hit on top of a bridge. We got stopped by the bottom. Luckily, a Highway Patrol just happened to be sitting there. I told hi that we got hit by something that was on fire. He took off, while we looked for damage on the bus. We could see a huge fire burning on top of the bridge a half a mile back. In speaking to the driver and band members, they didn’t really know what happened. Just that the whole windshield was all of a sudden covered with fire!
Two hours later the cop told us what happened according to witnesses that had been behind us… A drunk driver was driving at an unknown crazy speed. He was swerving in and out of traffic. He tried to cut in front of a car that was in the left lane behind us. He clipped that car. What he didn’t know was that in front of that car was a pickup pulling a tank trailer full of some kind of fuel. The drunk hit the trailer and it exploded right next to the bus. His speed was so fast that, even though we were running 65-60, the entire wreck passed the bus… The truck and trailer struck the front corner of the bus and then swerved and went across our path and hit the bridge on our right side. That is when the driver and band members saw the windshield covered in flame. Witnesses said the entire bus disappeared in flames when the tank exploded. They also said that the bus slid sideways and left the ground briefly! In other words, it was a wild ride! We were saved by the skill of the driver and the grace of God!
The bus amazingly doesn’t show a lot of damage. The entire side of the bus is charred from the flames. The side marker lights and taillights are melted. The rub strips are burned. And the front corner, including the compartment door under the driver windows nod the front bumper are messed up. The right side of thus is slightly charred where we barely got past the burning truck after it hit the bridge to the right of us. It was a scary experience and shows just,how quickly something can happen no matter how careful you are…
-
3 Replies
-
Songman,
WOW that does sound like a crazy ride…. very glad it turned out like it did…..
Bill
-
Whoaaa…..glad you guys are alright! Looks like the Prevost held up pretty good!
You are not joking about crazy stuff on the road, it happens ALL the time, more miles you do, more you will see.
Last year leaving West Memphis, AR going over the bridge to TN I saw what looked like a car on top of a road sign…I pulle dover everyone else kept going probably because they could not believe what they saw…anyways lady somehow hit one of those solar signs DOT’s use and pushed it off the road and ended up on top of it sideways precariously in the air!!
So many dangers out there you have to be careful, but obviously the Prevost bus held up better than a plastic coach…
-
Definitely! Had we been in a coach with plastic or fiberglass sides, it would have caught fire and been a completely different outcome. The way it is now, insurance will fix the bus, and we all have a good road story to tell 🙂
I got word that the couple that were in the truck pulling the fuel tank had to be taken to the hospital with injuries, but they are fine. Neither the drunk driver nor any of his passengers were injured. He will be facing several charges though.
Log in to reply.