Tri-axle looses brakes kills atleast 4

[2004F550]

A triaxle lost its brakes this morning on a large downgrade and ran an intersection, veered into a coach bus, then fillped over dumping its load on a car. The crash caused a chain reaction and a total of 20 vehicles were involved and 4 dead as of now and 14 injured. The bus was a coach bus transporting commuters, this happened in the town next to me, about 5 miles from our shop. 3 cars burned so bad that they can't be identified. Both our ambulances from my town responded along with about 3 other towns and Lifestar the local lifeflight service moved 4 paients in two trips with two heliocopters. It was quite a scene, more like a bomb went off or something then a wreck. They found parts to the trucks brakes scattered down the hilll, pads, cams etc. We know the company and they are not known for their maintance. Anyway i'll report more if I hear more. Quite a sad scene, some fire/ems personal who have been around for a long time say it was the worst thing in terms of an accident in their careers..

 

[badranman]

Sad news indeed. Where abouts was this?

 

[2004F550]

Avon, CT............Which is in NW Connecticut...I live in the next town over Canton

 

[cat320]

Isn't this the second big acident in 2 weeks there ?? man stay away from con. I could not belive it when i saw the news .

 

[Cat420]

Does the engine brake not help at all when that size truck is fully loaded and pointed down a hill? I thought that the general rule was to let the transmission do the most work. I don't drive trucks so I am only guessing.

 

[2004F550]

Turns out the guy had been driving the truck for 3 days, so he was new............. the transmission blew when he went to down shift so he didn't have that, and only the brakes with a full 18yd load....needless to say it didn't work.....the road is a steep decline down what is known as Avon mountain, about .50 mile to decline 500'....this is the second acccident that involved a triaxle is 3 yrs, a runaway ramp would have saved these lifes and the injuries from the previous accident too.....what sucks is now instead of something smart like that they are just going to punish people like my family's company that are safe by imposing more regulations etc...when something like the runaway ramp could be much more useful....oh well...all politics i suppose,

 

[RonG]

I think the poor dumptruck driver was killed according to the local news coverage,the surgeon that happened to be on the scene helping said they could not get to him and he burned to death.That was my understanding from the broadcast,I may be wrong.I have traveled that same route many times with both lowbeds and dump/trailer dumps.I find that descending the hill I am always in somebodies way as the road is only one lane for a good part of the descent and the road has so many curves that the traffic cannot see to pass you safely.
The road is on the side of a mountain and is only three lanes wide and of course the middle lane would be for the passing lane on the climbing side because of the slow vehicle lane for the trucks.
The hill is so long that you cannot stay off of the brakes long enough to let them cool so you need to know that you are in control and in the right gear before you start down it and the traffic behind you can get very impatient.
At the bottom of the hill where the accident happened is a traffic light so in addition to a successful descent you may need to come to a dead stop at the bottom as well so you need to have something in reserve just in case.
Plan "B" is never very attractive coming down Avon mountain.
The driver of the dump truck may have been a hero,we probably will never know but your choices are limited when you are coasting with no brakes.Ron G

 

[Steve Frazier]

Cat420, an engine brake helps only if a low enough gear has been selected prior to descending the hill. Ideally with the proper gear selected you have no need for service brakes, the engine brake will hold you back.

If the driver was inexperienced as suggested, he wouldn't know the limitations of his truck and may not have known the severity of the hill. When I was new to the industry, I was hauling a 21 ton load of blacktop and faced a 3/4 mile long decline we call Wingdale Mountain. I hadn't been down that road in years and had forgotten how steep it was. Needless to say I hadn't chosen a low enough gear and found myself in a runaway situation.

I had the engine brake on full retard, trolley brake pulled down full, I popped the parking brake on and was literally out of my seat standing on the brake pedal. For all my efforts I was still travelling at 45 mph and faced a traffic circle at the bottom of the hill.

As I approached the circle, I laid on the air horn and when I reached it rather than try to negotiate it I drove straight across it. Fortunately for me and anyone else, no one was in the circle when I roared through. I got the truck stopped about 1/4 mile further, all wheels had smoke pouring out of them. I paced around the truck for about 1/2 hour thanking God for my safe passage before I was finally settled enough to continue. My brakes smoked for an hour before they finally cooled down.

I got away with my ignorance, unfortunately for the driver mentioned here and the other victims, they did not. I learned my lesson and ever since when I'm faced with a long decline I play it safe. I get hauled down on the level and choose a gear that I don't need service brakes except for a touch now and then. I'm not at all intimidated by the train of angry motorists that line up behind me anymore, the only thing I'm interested in is a safe delivery.

God bless the victims of this accident.

 

[PSDF350]

Steve you had me standing on that brake with you; good story.

 

[xkvator]

once he got over the crest, he should have never tried to downshift...unless he was in the highest gear, he would have had some help.

a couple weeks ago, i was coming down 3 Mile Hill on rt 31, and came up on a rig pulling a container. as he probably didn't own the chassis, he was using the trolley brake only. lots of smoke. i wasn't getting in front of him...about 10 of us on motorcycles. as you know, the maint. on those container chassis is terrible, so if he had brakes to start, he cooked them enough that they glazed over and are not as effective. when he stopped at the red light at the bottom and let off the brake...and let oxygen in...there was so much smoke 2 guys in the back had to pull off on the shoulder to go around so they could breath.
a lot of drivers, especially ones pulling big campers/boats/equipment don't realize pumping brakes only heats them up worse...letting oxygen in every time you let off. Heat + Oxygen = FIRE .they did a test on Grapevine in Cal. years ago with pyrometers hooked up.
i had a Freightliner years ago that had a brake pressure gauge...told you how much air pressure you were applying. if you are in the right gear before descending, you should be only applying about 15 psi
lots of truck wrecks everyday...look at Pa turnpike...

 

[2004F550]

Yea it is apparent he died a horrible death from what I've heard....what sucks is that he wasn't suppose to go down the mountain at all......he was suppose to make a left at the top and go down a road to a house being built but he missed the turn, now we will never know if he missed the turn becuase he couldn't stop from the very top or if he just missed it visually and then lost it on the hill..........