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NTSB Releases Final Report on 2010 Missouri Fatal Crash, Details Troubling Safety Issues
By Ryan Gray Te National Transportation Safety Board
says cell-phone use by a teen driver of a pickup truck, the inadequate following distance by two school bus drivers and faulty school bus brakes all led to a fatal, chain-reaction crash in Gray Summit, Mo., a year and a half ago. Phone records show that the 19-year-old
male driver of the GMC pickup initiated the tragedy on Aug. 5, 2010, when he crashed into the rear of a Volvo tractor trailer after having received five text messages and sent six in the 11 minutes prior to the crash. Seconds later, a school bus slammed into the rear of the GMC, forcing it on top of the tractor trailer. Seconds after that, another school bus struck the first. Checks of both bus drivers’ cell phone
records showed no calls or texts had been made at or near the time of the crashes. NTSB said the drivers had not been using their two-way radios, the AM/FM radios were off and neither had been eating or drinking. Te drivers were also found to be in good health and had kept proper hours of service, and there was no history of sleep disorders. Additionally, no illegal drugs or alcohol were found in their systems. NTSB first announced preliminary results from the crash
investigation in December, when it called on all states and the District of Columbia to enact legislation that bans the use of all portable electronic devices by drivers. Other contributing factors, according to NTSB, was a faulty
brake line in one bus and an out-of-place ABS wheel speed sensor in the other. Te brake lights on the first bus never actuated, which NTSB found was linked to external distraction because the driver was looking at a stopped motorcoach on the right shoulder just prior to hitting the GMC. NTSB found that this contributed to the second driver not having enough time to react, which was exacerbated by the fact that the following distance was only 2.5 to 3.5 seconds. Te Missouri Commercial Driver’s License Manual dictates the following distance should be 4.5 seconds. Te two buses operated by Copeland Bus Service were ferrying
54 members of the St. James High School band to the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park along Interstate 44 when the pickup rear- ended a Volvo tractor trailer that had stopped in a construction zone. Te first school bus in the convoy struck the rear of the GMC seconds later at approximately 47 mph, overriding it and pushing onto the top of the tractor trailer. Te second bus then careened into the left rear of the first school bus, which an onboard video recorder captured. As a result, a student sitting in the last row of the first bus was killed. Te force of the crashes folded the GMC
22 School Transportation News Magazine March 2012
A number of events all played a part in this Aug. 5, 2010, crash that claimed the life of a 16-year-old high school band member and the 19-year-old driver of a pickup truck.
truck upside down and into a “U” shape, killing the driver instantly. But NTSB said inspections of the lead bus uncovered corroded
hydraulic brake lines, and one had actually ruptured. Tere were also missing sections of brake-pad lining. Post-crash deceleration tests at 50 mph determined that the damaged brake line required 9.13 seconds and 335 feet for the bus to come to a complete stop. NTSB noted that repaired brake lines would have shortened the stopping time to about 3.5 seconds and stopping distance to 132 feet. Investigators also discovered that the right-rear ABS sensor in
the second bus was “out of its placement hold in the wheel and dangling from a wire.” Only one set of skid marks for the second bus were found at the scene. Interestingly, a bus dispatched by Copeland following the crash
to a local hospital to transport any uninjured students back to the high school experienced loss of braking in the parking lot and struck three parked cars before coming to a rest against the wall of a small garage, according to a police report. NTSB said NHTSA Office of Defects Investigations databases showed no applicable brake line recalls, service bulletins or complaints.
FINDINGS OF IMPROPER MAINTENANCE, STATE REGULATIONS THAT SHOULD BE REVISED NTSB later inspected the Copeland Bus fleet facilities and
reported that there was no apparent maintenance schedule for the buses or any established records. Te service manuals were unorganized, and all maintenance records for the 23-bus fleet
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