-
RV Accident
-
Obviously we don’t know how the recovery guy got the bus back on the road, but it seems to me that the sensible thing to do would be to pull it forward in this instance. Chances are most of the damage has already been done so another yard to two of scraping wouldn’t hurt much more.
Peter, this is your department. What would you do based on the available evidence?
-
DKO….Was that the gospel group that had the accident right at the Catawba River west of Charlotte? My recollection is one of them had to be airlifted to the hospital…
Now it may be coming….the Reggie Sadler Family? We saw them at Dollywood the first time they sang after that incident.
Ugly…they were fortunate!
-
Having done three factories tours of Newmar’s, Entegra’s, & Tiffin’s, they are all basically constructed the same, sitting on either a Freightliner or Spartan chassis, with the coach part screwed/bolted on. They are all using aluminum framing.
Take the tours … then take a Prevost tour and see the “guts” of the chassis, and you will walk away with a new perspective, as I did.
-
The paint job on the coach straddling the driveway looks alot like the paint job on Alvie’s coach in his signature.
I think pulling that coach forward would be a HUGE mistake. The rear end is probably partially supported by the tag. Going forward will put all the weight of the coach on the engine cradle. What we don’t see is the front of the coach. Is the front bumper on the pavement?
I’m not in this business … but here is what I would suggest.
First the front tires need to be blocked so the coach can’t move forward. I thought about hooking the wrecker to the back, but I’m not sure the engine cradle can stand the stress of holding the coach back if it wants to move forward. .
Second the chassis needs to be raised (using the correct jacking points) to release the pressure on the engine cradle. Then the drive axle need to be jacked up. Cribbing needs to be built under the drive wheels to support them when the jacks are removed..
Hopefully when the coach is aired up the chassis will not be in contact with the pavement and the coach can be backed up until the drive wheels are on the pavement. Remove the cribbing and hopefully the coach can be backed up on its own.
Coach will need a very thorough structural inspection to determine the extent of the hidden damage.
Peter … who do you pick up a Prevost that’s upside down, rotate it in mid-air, and set it down? where do you attach to the Prevost? Was the driver all alone?
-
That is not Alvie’s coach. If you look it has OTR, but look also at the roof and you will see roof airs. Just in the little portion of the coach shown there appear to be three indicating the roof likely has 5 of them which is usually a sign the coach is an entertainer.
Dick is on the right track in my opinion. I would prevent the coach from moving forward, and carefully jack under the drive axle, putting blocking the drive wheels as they clear the ground. The blocking should get some planking behind it once the tail is off the ground and then with a straight pull from the wrecker to assist the coach power train slowly walk the coach back.
I am amazed it did not high center going down the ramp. Maybe it did and the driver just kep going.
-
I took this photo a couple of years ago at a body shop in Texas. A pick up truck spun out of control in heavy rain storm, Bus traveling at 65 mph in center lane with no place to go.
Driver and passenger both wearing seat belts, walked away without any injuries I was told.
-
Dick – Good point about the tag etc.
Going back to the bus that ran into the back of the queing trucks, firstly glad that no one was hurt, but I’m afraid I haven’t got much sympathy regarding the situation the driver found themselves in. They were going too fast for the situation. Assuming the road ahead is clear is driver error. If you can’t see, then slow down. Unless something spontaneously appears in front of you, like the spinning truck in the other example, or other unknown road condition (black ice etc.) then there is no excuse for running into the back of someone or thing.
That said, it is poor planning by whoever is in charge at the weigh station to allow traffic to queue on the highway on a blind curve.
-
Jon wrote: “I am amazed it did not high center going down the ramp.”I thought the very same thing.
Jon then wrote: “Maybe it did and the driver just kept going.” WOW! I hope not!
The following pictures show the aftermath of our first long trip with the coach (i.e. going further than to Jeff’s) to Florida in January.
The driver’s side damage occurred first in northern Florida at my uncle and aunts. They live on a small lake (that is drying up) near Keystone Heights (between Gainesville and Jacksonville) on a dirt road with dirt roads on their property. They had 50amp available near the pump house. When it came time to leave I have four different people spotting. I explained to them what to look out for (roof and tree limbs, back of coach against trees, bushes, and buildings, and front bumper and the uneven ground). I told them not to say anything unless I was (1) in danger of hitting something or (2) headed for something; that way I could direct them to areas around the coach that concerned me. Of course they didn’t listen and were all talking at once. End of stainless trim piece caught high spot between ruts in sand road as I backed across it.
The passenger side damage was caught trying to chase cheap fuel in Indiana. Couldn’t get the Love’s discount card to work on a truck island (now I know why) and was directed to use the RV pump “out front”. Looked narrow, but not as narrow as it turned out to be. The end of the trim piece got over the curb, but not the pad that the pump sat on. Once I heard the noise, I looked and backed up. Then left. As a result, we intend to NEVER buy fuel in Indiana.
Removed the trim piece, took it to Liberty in North Chicago, and in a week they had it fixed. Flawless work.
-
DKO….Was that the gospel group that had the accident right at the Catawba River west of Charlotte? My recollection is one of them had to be airlifted to the hospital…
Now it may be coming….the Reggie Sadler Family?
It was the Mike Bowling Family in the July 2010 Prevost accident. Ii was just outside Charlotte on the I-85 bridge over the Catawba River. Several of the passengers were hurt severely including one with a broken back. She was laying in a bunk if I understood correctly. Amazinly the person in the passenger buddy seat ended up several feet back in the bus near the galley area rather than embedded in the semi trailer I was told.
Going back to the bus that ran into the back of the queing trucks, firstly glad that no one was hurt, but I’m afraid I haven’t got much sympathy regarding the situation the driver found themselves in. They were going too fast for the situation. Assuming the road ahead is clear is driver error. If you can’t see, then slow down. Unless something spontaneously appears in front of you, like the spinning truck in the other example, or other unknown road condition (black ice etc.) then there is no excuse for running into the back of someone or thing.
That said, it is poor planning by whoever is in charge at the weigh station to allow traffic to queue on the highway on a blind curve
The first to receive blame in any accident is a commercial driver in my experience, especially if the commercial driver rear-ends someone. The fact that this bus driver was not cited at all, even though he hit the back of a truck is a testament to how bad the weigh station situation was and how well the problem had been documented in the past. It was a hazard and they had been instructed to let the trucks bypass the weigh station if full but they stacked them up in a blind curve anyway.
There are some situations we can not avoid but it will pay us all to slow down and look out for idiots and obstacles ahead. EVERY time I get in too big of a hurry, I am liable to get in a bind, a scrape or worse. I live on a tight schedule but nothing is more important than the two girls in that bus depending on me to drive as safely as possible.
Every post with pictures of accidents scares me and I am glad they do.
Davy
-
Andy , we would use high pressure air bag under lift points crib it then back out , or K strap it , but its hard to tell from pic exactly what’s going on in front and what’s hitting in back
-
Looking at the 1st pictures on this thread and compare with the net / news, if this is the same accident, it was caused by a flat tire…scary…..
-
Dick this is how we do it ,but it’s hard to explain , no damage what so ever!!!!!
-
My twin brother travels the country USA and Canada teaching company’s how to recover buses , and recovery , He is the best in the industry with this stuff no damage what so ever when we recover one or tow it period!!!!!!
-
-
This is one of the six trucks we use for that kind of job
its a 60 ton sliding rotater 360 degrees
Log in to reply.