Nearly a Semi vs. School Bus

This has been making the rounds of the news today.

Hard to imagine how bad they must have let the brakes get for that to happen.

By the way, this has happened to me a number of times in dreams while sleeping at night. But nothing like it in real life.

I will not hit the like button on that.

This incident above is why I'm such a a$$hole about truck drivers and zero



maintenance or lack there of.
I have said it before on this forum, when you are on the road trust no truck around
you.

3 are at fault here
The driverfor driving the wreck
The company for allowing suchwreaks to go down the road.
And the person in charge of maintenance of the truck. Because they could have put a stop to it
Much like TS said its totally uncalled for....

It's good that the folks in the lane facing the truck saw what was happening and made room. On a sarcastic note, I thought all of this regulation and enforcement of trucks was supposed to prevent this type of thing.

It's not good but you have to give the guy credit for not causing a terrible wreck. We have all had failures, it can happen in the best of equipment. I'm not defending poor maintenance just saying you never know.

Only thing comes to mind is….wow!

gwhammy said:

It's not good but you have to give the guy credit for not causing a terrible wreck. We have all had failures, it can happen in the best of equipment. I'm not defending poor maintenance just saying you never know.

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That is very true but I'd bet in this case unless the guy was going way faster then should have been the spring breaks should have atleast slowed him alittle more then it appears in the tape.

It is hard to count how many systems must have failed. He had plenty of air to honk the horn. He was not going real fast nor was it a very steep hill. Not like he just came off a mountain or something, either.

Well to expound on the fact maintenance is the key to a thriving business, and unfortunately because
costs of operating have sky rocketed maintenance always gets the short end of the stick. But that said
a shop or owner can never gamble that even new equipment is up to par.
I have a habit of not driving the equipment in the shop and for two reasons-I'm looking and listening
as it rolls past. I squat down to eye level with axle looking at tires for flat spots or deformation and listening for
air leaks and such. Today as would have it I caught something that was extremely troubling.
Jeff pulled a brand new {300 miles on it trailer} in the shop for a check over and inspection before
being put into service. Just before it came to a stop I noticed the rear axle brakes trying to lock up.
I had him back up out of the shop and reenter with some speed. Sure enough the rear axle locked
up and front and center axles nothing plus the rear was using the ABS hard to keep from locking.
I jacked all three axles on one side had him apply brake-the front two turned the rear was locked.
A brand NEW trailer with defective brake system, we had another in the yard I checked that one
same issue. I pulled the service brake hoses from air cans {no air in application}.
You can not trust anything period. Every piece of equipment that's bought has to come through the shop.
14 brand new trailers all RED TAGGED by me, Utility is jumping through their a$$ right now. Trailers
that were in route turned around.
Below is photos of said trailer-$105,000 dollar accident waiting to happen.

The proper thing for driver to do was pull the dash valves first, then ditch it if necessary. The truck can be
replaced.

Truck Shop said:

The proper thing for driver to do was pull the dash valves first, then ditch it if necessary. The truck can be
replaced.

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Tho I'm no where near a experienced driver I think I'd been headed In between them houses if it made it that far off the road. But that is easy to sit here and say

If you listen to the audio-he panicked. Only by the grace of chance nothing bad happened.

He forgot the 3 c
Calm
Cool
Collected
They probably won't have put what I said on TV been one word starting with f over and over kinda like when I lost that steer tire.

I drove dumps for a few years, I doubt that truck was at 80K. The dump trailers I drove grossed at 120/130K loaded. So glad there wasn't a kid crossing at that moment, there's so much that could have gone wrong to make this a tragedy that didn't. Thank God!!

Birken Vogt said:

It is hard to count how many systems must have failed. He had plenty of air to honk the horn. He was not going real fast nor was it a very steep hill. Not like he just came off a mountain or something, either.

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Yea if the truck OR trailer have any half decent brakes it could have stopped, it's very suspect why both were virtually useless. Also guessing because spring brakes didn't work maybe they are so far out of adjustment they were about useless? Definitely lack of maintenance, pre-trip and inexperienced driver all played a role for sure. A good driver with a jake alone on that small of a decline would get it slowed down pretty quick.

There's a lot of sketchy people out there. Heard of plenty of companies who take a truck in for inspection, then remove the tires, brakes, etc for the next truck. It's scary the chit that people will put on the road without regard for safety of anyone else.

DOT's about useless for it though. They'd rather catch the guy with a tire a few lbs low, or a light out then the real unsafe trucks.

Steve Frazier said:

I drove dumps for a few years, I doubt that truck was at 80K. The dump trailers I drove grossed at 120/130K loaded. So glad there wasn't a kid crossing at that moment, there's so much that could have gone wrong to make this a tragedy that didn't. Thank God!!

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Here that combo is good for 102,000lbs. 80,000lbs seems way too low.

All possibilities - to failure. Drums worn past limit, shoes past limit or both, cam'd over. Auto slack adjusters defective internally. S-cam bushings shot. Broken park brake springs. The second two caused by lack of grease.
Leaking wheel seals. Missing brake hardware. Air chambers replaced incorrectly causing incorrect stroke at slack.
No application brake air to trailer/tractor protection valve.
Those are the most common.---Here 88,000.

I dunno. I can't see getting where he did without knowing his brakes were crap. I test them, I know what they are supposed to do, how they react. I can't see those brakes feeling proper at the start of the trip.

As a 12 year veteran of school bus driving, that video gives me cold chills. I had a car hit the back of my bus once, but not at a speed like that, and it was just a small car, not a truck. I just read, this morning, where a bus, near my old driving area, ran over and killed a 6 year old student yesterday. That was always one of my biggest fears, as the little kids tend to scatter in all directions when they exit the bus, and, you never where they have gone.

I was surprised the guy in the pickup just put it in reverse and backed up ten feet. If I saw a rig coming at me like that I would be turning right into that green space and away from any chance of a head on.