On June 5, 1980, about 12:47 a.m., a northbound Central Texas Bus Lines, Inc., charter bus occupied by the driver and 32 passengers accelerated out of control while descending a long, curved, steep grade on State Route 7 about 1 mile south of Jasper, Arkansas. The bus failed to negotiate a left curve, and ran off the right pavement edge into a drainage channel. The bus continued for 280 feet, impacted a berm at a concrete culvert, was redirected across the highway, and vaulted down a steep embankment. Twenty bus occupants, including the driver, were killed and 13 passengers were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a combination of circumstances which resulted in the driver's inability to control the bus as it descended a steep, winding grade. These circumstances included driver fatigue, reduced fuel flow from a nonstandard fuel pump which adversely affected the busdriver's ability to downshift, and the improperly maintained airbrake system. Contributing to the accident was the management decision which permitted dispatching of a driver with inadequate time to complete the trip within permissible hours and the carrier's inadequate preventive maintenance program for this bus.
Highway Accident Report - Central Texas Bus Lines, Inc., Charter Bus, State Route 7 Near Jasper, Arkansas, June 5, 1980
1981
46 pages
Report
No indication
English