Quote:
Originally Posted by MTI
NTSB Report on Accident
Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the initial Gray Summit collision was distraction, likely due to a text messaging conversation being conducted by the GMC pickup driver, which resulted in his failure to notice and react to a Volvo tractor that had slowed or stopped in response to a queue that had developed in a work zone. The second collision, between the lead school bus and the GMC pickup, was the result of the bus driver's inattention to the forward roadway, due to excessive focus on a motorcoach parked on the shoulder of the road. The final collision was due to the driver of the following school bus not maintaining the recommended minimum distance from the lead school bus in the seconds preceding the accident. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the lack of forward collision warning systems on the two school buses.
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So in fact all the texting driver did was rear end a stopped or slow moving tractor. Remove his mobile phone and he'd probably still have gotten killed by two buses plowing him into/onto the tractor. Again, I'm all for driver focus, but this situation has little to nothing to do with texting. In this imperfect world, texting will be banned but applying makeup and scolding kids in the back seat will still skirt the law.
[edit] Shouldn't the lead bus driver have seen slow traffic ahead of the pickup?
FWIW, my money's on slow moving rather than stopped tractor. The rear wheels would have to be turning to lift the pickup onto the fifth wheel to provide the ramp for the bus to end up in that compromising position.
Sixto
87 300D