HIGHWAY ACCIDENT REPORT--VALLEY SUPPLY COMPANY TRUCK TOWING FARM PLOW/ANCHOR MOTOR FREIGHT INC. CAR-CARRIER TRUCK/NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION FOR RETARDED CHILDREN BUS, COLLISIONS AND FIRE, STATE ROUTE 8, NEAR HOLMESVILLE, NEW YORK, APRIL 5, 1983
On April 5, 1983, a 2-ton flatbed truck, loaded with one farm plow and towing another farm plow, was traveling southbound on a two-lane, two-way rural highway near Holmesville, New York. An adult passenger bus, with 20 persons on board, was following the flatbed truck at a distance of about 100 feet. As both vehicles entered a 3,820-foot-radius right curve, the towed plow suddenly separated from its hitch attachments and veered left into the opposing northbound traffic lane. A northbound tractor car-carrier semitrailer struck the plow, rupturing the tractor's left front tire. As a result, the driver lost control of the vehicle, and the vehicle veered left across the highway centerline and collided head-on with the bus. The busdriver and four bus passengers were killed. The truckdriver of the car carrier and nine bus passengers were hospitalized with various degrees of injury. Six bus passengers were treated and released. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the towing of a farm plow on a highway at a speed which did not permit the farm plow to track properly behind the flatbed truck and the use of an unapproved tow hitch device. Contributing to the cause was the failure to use safety chains to preclude vehicle separation in the event of a tow hitch failure. Contributing to the severity of injuries of some of the bus passengers was the lack of effective occupant protection from secondary impacts with interior surfaces.
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Corporate Authors:
National Transportation Safety Board
Bureau of Accident Investigation, 800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC United States 20594 - Publication Date: 1984-4-3
Media Info
- Features: Appendices; Figures;
- Pagination: 34 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Agricultural equipment; Buses; Crash causes; Fatalities; Frontal crashes; Injuries; Rural highways; Towing devices; Traffic crashes; Trucks
- Uncontrolled Terms: Agricultural machinery
- Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00392783
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/HAR-84/01, HS-037 502
- Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
- Created Date: Feb 28 1985 12:00AM