CA - Fed-Ex truck slams head-on into bus full of students

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i.b.nora said:
Deadly Calif. Bus Crash: Truck's Tracker Likely Destroyed
By Andrew Lopez and Willian Avila | Saturday, Apr 12, 2014 | Updated 6:14 PM PDT

"Investigators found no signs that a FedEx truck braked before colliding head-on with a tour bus in Northern California, killing 10 people, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said Saturday.

During an evening press conference, the spokesman also said some of the passengers were ejected from the bus, which was equipped with seat belts.

Tracking technology on board the tractor-trailer was likely destroyed during a fire, an investigator told NBC News."

More with video...
Click to expand...

But the bus did try to stop.

From same article:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/nati...-Likely-Destroyed-Investigator-255028641.html

Tire marks by the bus before the moment of impact stretched for 145 feet, said the NTSB’s Mark Rosekind. The marks indicate that the bus driver reacted to the oncoming truck by braking and steering to the right, he said.
Click to expand...
 
A source inside one of the trucking companies that hauls for FedEx tells FOX40 employees were given a reason for the accident last night by their terminal operators.

The source, who wanted to remain anonymous, says he was informed that the driver of the FedEx truck, who’s suspected of causing the crash, had a fatal heart attack right before his rig crossed the interstate and slammed into the bus.

Read more: http://fox40.com/2014/04/11/did-a-fatal-heart-attack-cause-the-i-5-college-bus-crash/#ixzz2yk4QJ4ff


This though wouldn't explain if there was a fire before the crash. And according to this article the bus had a few delays including switching drivers in Sacramento.
 
I read an article earlier this afternoon, which I cannot locate now, by another witness who suggested that the truck was NOT on flames before it hit the bus, but that the FedEx driver was at fault for making an unsafe lane change, trying to pass a red van on his side and somehow lost control and veered across the divide.
It angers me that people are blaming the couple in the Nissan Altima when they weren't even on the same side of the road! They did NOT cause this people- they were victims, and lucky to be alive. It doesn't dawn on people that the FedEx driver could be at fault. Perhaps he had a heart attack, was on drugs, or just a really reckless driver!!!
 
mysteriew said:
If one of the brakes stuck it would have caused overheating of the brake. I had a brake cylinder go out one time and my brakes failed and overheated.
Click to expand...

I can see a brake being stuck "on" which would make a wheel skid until the vehicle stopped. Apparently that didn't happen in this case. I'm not sure what you mean by having a "brake cylinder" go out? If your talking about a hydraulic brake master cylinder going out then yes, you could have total brake failure.

The vehicles involved here use air brakes so they operate a bit differently than most peoples cars or trucks.

This section of I5 is flat and relatively straight. Braking ability by the FedEx truck or the tour bus shouldn't be a big factor. The big question is why did the FedEx truck cross the center divide?
 
from a witness ... said he was mowing his lawn, which faces the southbound lanes of the highway, when he heard screeching tires. The FedEx truck, hauling two trailers, was in the slower of two southbound lanes behind a red van, he said. The truck tried to merge into the faster lane, but there were two cars there. At that point, the truck driver seemed to lose control of his vehicle. The truck shot across the grassy median, shearing the tops off bushes that separate the northbound and southbound lanes. The truck began straightening out but by that time it was already on the northbound lane and had collided with the bus. "When they collided, it was boom!" he said. Both vehicles erupted into fire.


http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...-truck-20140412,0,7318239.story#ixzz2ykTpYtbI
 
JerseyGirl said:
... said he was mowing his lawn, which faces the southbound lanes of the highway, when he heard screeching tires. The FedEx truck, hauling two trailers, was in the slower of two southbound lanes behind a red van, he said. The truck tried to merge into the faster lane, he said, but there were two cars there. At that point, the truck driver seemed to lose control of his vehicle. The truck shot across the grassy median, shearing the tops off bushes that separate the northbound and southbound lanes. The truck began straightening out but by that time it was already on the northbound lane and had collided with the bus.
"When they collided, it was boom!" he said. Both vehicles erupted into fire.


http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...-truck-20140412,0,7318239.story#ixzz2ykTpYtbI
Click to expand...
Thank-you! This information was in the article I read. Another possibility- still the truck driver's fault is that he fell asleep at the wheel, but this article indicates what I read, that he tried to make an unsafe lane change!!!
 
www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/He...or-Recounts-Terrifying-Moments-255061911.html

"... As the bus became engulfed in flames, the teen kicked out a window and fled from the burning bus...."

Poor Miles Hill. He is a hero to me for having the presence of mind to kick out a window.
If I were in his place... I might have just frozen in shock... and died.
Hope all the survivors heal , physically and emotionally.

"...From his hospital bed at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Hill said he is still haunted by what he heard and saw.

“Screams of people who were trapped inside burning alive,” Hill said. ..."

".. The teen was able to save himself and others after kicking out the window. But his father said the teen almost feels guilty about surviving because he wasn’t able to do more for those who died..."

But still... Miles did do something and probably saved some people. Best wishes to him and all the survivors !
 
I'm not going to blame any of the victims at this point. A number of things could've happened to cause this horrible accident. The driver could've had a heart attack or been overcome by smoke, or whatever. If someone is to blame, well, we'll find out and hopefully learn from it.
 
LietKynes said:
www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/He...or-Recounts-Terrifying-Moments-255061911.html

"... As the bus became engulfed in flames, the teen kicked out a window and fled from the burning bus...."

Poor Miles Hill. He is a hero to me for having the presence of mind to kick out a window.
If I were in his place... I might have just frozen in shock... and died.
Hope all the survivors heal , physically and emotionally.

"...From his hospital bed at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Hill said he is still haunted by what he heard and saw.

“Screams of people who were trapped inside burning alive,” Hill said. ..."

".. The teen was able to save himself and others after kicking out the window. But his father said the teen almost feels guilty about surviving because he wasn’t able to do more for those who died..."

But still... Miles did do something and probably saved some people. Best wishes to him and all the survivors !
Click to expand...

Miles was sitting directly behind the bus driver and says the FedEx truck was not on fire when it crossed the divider, it exploded on impact.
 
SophieRose said:
Miles was sitting directly behind the bus driver and says the FedEx truck was not on fire when it crossed the divider, it exploded on impact.
Click to expand...
RSBM

I read that bit, as well.
If the FedEx driver made a mistake and an unsafe lane change... well he has paid the price. I do think the families of the victims need to know exactly what happened ; that knowledge might not provide closure, but at least they would have an answer as to why their loved one is not coming home.

My first thought was that maybe the FedEx driver had a fatal heart attack ?
 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...40411,0,4711703.story?track=rss#axzz2ynGOZpAY

The 18-year-old told his father that he was seated directly behind the driver when the crash occurred. He said the bus driver saw the truck coming and may have had room to turn, but did not.

But in an interview, Gaylord Hill stressed that his son’s recollections may still be fuzzy, and had the driver turned it might have done more harm than good.
 
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-bus-crash-20140413,0,2461388.story#axzz2yngevnIZ
Conflicting accounts of moments before FedEx truck, tour bus crash

A driver who was sideswiped moments before Thursday evening's fatal accident said she saw flames coming from beneath a FedEx freight truck as it veered across a grassy median toward disaster.

A man who lives next to Interstate 5, however, said he saw no flames from the truck before the crash and watched the twin-trailer FedEx vehicle swerve out of control after it made an abortive attempt to move into the fast lane.

snip

Rosekind said the bus was a "very new motor coach" — only about a month old. The FedEx truck was manufactured in 2007, he said.
 
NTSB unable to confirm the Duran's statement that the FedEx truck was ablaze.


(Snip)

"There is no evidence of pre-impact fire located at the accident scene," said Mark Rosekind, a board member of the National Transportation Safety Board on site in Orland. He said NTSB fire investigators had examined the median and the highway for signs that the truck was on fire at the time of Thursday's crash.

That's contrary to what witnesses Bonnie and Joe Duran earlier told two TV stations.

(Snip)

Initial reports by police indicated the truck swerved to avoid a sedan that was traveling in the same direction in this town about 100 miles north of Sacramento, then went across the median.

More@link

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-fedex-truck-ablaze-before-bus-crash/7674163/



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
He was right behind the driver and was wearing his seat belt. Many were not wearing the seat belts and were thrown. Picture of him, his ears were burned.

Survivor recounts escape from deadly bus crash
http://www.news10.net/story/news/lo...ecounts-escape-from-deadly-bus-crash/7691097/

"It was double-bedded FedEx ground truck. Both of the beds were askewed at some sort of weird angle. And it just hit us," Hill said. "It swerved into our lane and hit us head on. That's when I prepared to give up and thought, 'This is it. It's over'."
 
What does double-bedded mean? I know what a regular FedEx tractor trailer looks like but not sure what this means. Thanks!
 
Blondie in Spokane said:
What does double-bedded mean? I know what a regular FedEx tractor trailer looks like but not sure what this means. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I assume it to mean that it has another big trailer on the back of the tractor trailer. I've seen them on some of our highways.

Like this?

p631248333-3.jpg


http://robahlers.zenfolio.com/p222018343/h25A015CD#h25a015cd
 
If FedEx driver didn't try to use the brakes, and his truck was not on fire prior to the collide, then maybe he did suffer a heart attack or a stroke. Hopefully they can tell from the remains. Other possibility is that he fell asleep or was distracted by something.
 
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