HIGHWAY ACCIDENT REPORT: MULTIPLE-VEHICLE COLLISIONS AND FIRE IN FOG, INTERSTATE 15, NEAR SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA, NOVEMBER 10, 1980

About 7:25 a.m. on November 10, 1980, southbound traffic on Interstate Route 15 suddenly encountered dense fog north of the Highland Avenue offramp near San Bernardino, California, that reduced visibility to between zero and 50 feet. A tractor-trailer combination vehicle braked suddenly to avoid a small car that changed lanes in front of it, and a pickup truck struck the trailer from the rear. This initiated a chain of collisions that involved at least 24 vehicles over a period of 5 to 10 minutes within a distance of 450 feet and resulted in 7 fatalities, 17 injuries, and extensive damage to all vehicles. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this multiple-vehicle accident was the failure of the drivers of many of the vehicles involved to reduce speed as necessary to be able to stop in distances compatible with visibility which was severely restricted by dense fog.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Bureau of Accident Investigation, 800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1981-6-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 40 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Casualties; Compact automobiles; Crash investigation; Crashes; Fatalities; Fires; Fog; Loss and damage; Motor vehicles; Pickup trucks; Speed; Stopping distances; Tractor trailer combinations; Traffic crashes; Traffic speed; Trailers; Visibility
• Identifier Terms: Interstate Highway System
• Uncontrolled Terms: Motor vehicle accidents
• Geographic Terms: California
• Old TRIS Terms: Pickups; Small car
• Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00343836
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-HAR-81-2
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 23 1982 12:00AM