At 11:45 a.m., on January 10, 1984, a G & D Auto Sales, Inc., tow truck was turning right from the company's driveway onto westbound State Route 44 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, when the rear-facing passenger car in tow, a 1981 Oldsmobile, was struck by an eastbound tractor-semitrailer operated by Branch Motor Express Company. The 76, 950-pound tractor-semitrailer continued eastbound, crossed the centerline of the damp, two-lane, two-way roadway, and struck the left front of a westbound Town of Rehoboth schoolbus carrying 15 students, ages 5 and 6. The 1979 schoolbus overturned and came to rest on its roof off the roadway. The driver of the tractor-semitrailer, the driver of the schoolbus, and one student were killed; 12 students were injured. The driver of the tow truck was not injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes of the accident were (a) unsecured steering axle wheels of the vehicle being towed by the rear, (b) excursion of the towed vehicle over the highway centerline into the path of the oncoming tractor-semitrailer, (c) loss of directional control by the driver of the tractor-semitrailer, and (d) entry of the uncontrolled tractor-semitrailer into the opposing traffic lane where it struck the schoolbus.
Highway Accident Report - Collision of G and D Auto Sales, Inc., Tow Truck Towing Automobile, Branch Motor Express Company, Tractor-Semitrailer Town of Rehoboth Schoolbus, Rehoboth, Massachusetts, January 10, 1984
1984
34 pages
Report
No indication
English