1972 — May 13, Greyhound Bus passing a car hits truck, US 11-W, Bean Station, TN– 14

–14 AP. “14 Killed in Greyhound Bus Crash.” The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. 5-13-1972.
–14 Kingsport News, TN. “Investigators Believe That Greyhound was at Fault.” 5-16-1972, p1.
–14 NTSB. HAR. Greyhound Bus…Truck Collision…11W, Bean Station, TN, May 13, 1972.
–14 Times News, Kingsport, TN. 11-W Disaster Brings New Highway Pleas.” 5-14-1972, p.1.

Narrative Information

NTSB: “Synopsis At 5:35 a.m. on May 13, 1972, an eastbound Greyhound intercity [double-decker ] bus drove over the broken centerline of U. S. Route 11W, a two-lane highway, and started to pass an eastbound automobile. As the front of the bus pulled even with the center of the automobile door, a westbound truck came into view around a curve.

“The bus driver made no attempt to get back into his own lane, and the bus collided with the truck nearly head-on in the westbound lane. The top speed of the bus before impact was estimated at about 55 m.p.h., and the top speed of the truck at about 45 m.p.h. After impact, the bus traveled an additional 86 feet and came to rest, right side up, in the eastbound lane. The tractor and truck were destroyed by a fire which did not reach the bus.

“The truck-driver, the bus driver, and twelve bus passengers died in the crash. Fourteen of the remaining fifteen passengers in the bus were injured. Nine passengers were found outside the bus after it came to rest.

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the cause of this accident was (1) the driving of the bus in the opposing lane of traffic while the bus was passing an automobile without unobstructed clear-sight distance ahead, and (2) the bus driver’s failure to avoid the tractor-semitrailer, for unknown reasons.

“Contributing to the fatalities and injuries was the lack of occupant restraints, which allowed some passengers to be ejected and others to be projected into sharp or unyielding interior bus components.

Recommendations The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that:

1. The State of Tennessee, Department of Highways, study the need for double yellow center lines on U. S. Highway 11W in the area of this accident to insure a no-passing condition. Further, study and correct similar conditions in the state where sight distances can be obstructed by commercial vehicles. (Recommendation H-73-41)

2. The Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety of the Federal Highway Administration take positive action toward making available to bus passengers convenient restraints against being ejected from their seats in a crash or rollover. This recommendation, with similar intent but varying language, has been made in seven prior interstate bus crash reports issued by the Safety Board. (Recommendation H-73-42)

3. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revise part S7.1 of its Proposed Rulemaking–Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection; Docket 73-3; Notice 1, to require impact protection for interior panels located in and around bus passenger windows. (Recommendation H-73-43).” (NTSB. HAR. Greyhound Bus…Truck Collision…11W, Bean Station, TN, May 13, 1972.)

Newspaper

May 13: “Bean Station, Tenn. (AP) – At least 14 persons were reported killed and 16 injured early today in the flaming wreckage of a Greyhound bus and a tractor-trailer rig, which collided near this one-time stage coach station in Upper East Tennessee. State Trooper Harold Buck said it appeared four or five babies were among the passengers on the bus, headed for Kingsport on U.S. 11-W. The bus was shattered, split in two, and the truck caught fire.

“Lt. Dewey Bales of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said ‘the tractor trailer was loaded with tarpaper, which caught on fore soon after the collision.

“The 5 a.m. wreck occurred in front of the home of Jesse Coffee, 27, just as he was rising for the day. ‘We heard what sounded like an explosion,’ he said, ‘then everything was quiet, and all we heard was a baby crying.’ He said he and his wife ran outside to find a baby, about 4 months old, lying between two adults he said were dead. The baby appeared unhurt, he said, and the Coffees kept the infant until rescue units arrived.

“Glen Deboard, a member of the volunteer Morristown Rescue Squad, which operates the only ambulance service in the area, said he counted 13 dead and 16 injured at Morristown-Hamblen Hospital in Morristown. The truck driver was among those killed. Morristown is about 16 miles southeast of the wreck, across the South Holston River. At least four of the injured were reported en route to hospitals in Knoxville, where emergency blood shipments were prepared for the Morristown Hospital as well.

“Buck said the wreck was so bad there was no way to tell how many persons were aboard the bus, but he said it appeared there were between 35 and 45….” (Associated Press. “14 Killed in Greyhound Bus Crash.” The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. 5-13-1972, p. 1.)

May 14: “The worst traffic accident in Northeast Tennessee history – the collision Saturday morning [May 13] of a Greyhound bus and tractor trailer on U.S. 11-W which killed 14 persons including a Kingsport housewife – spurred new demands Saturday night for completion of Interstate 81 from Knoxville to Kingsport. Senator Howard Baker called the grinding crash, which reduced both vehicles to masses of twisted junk, ‘catastrophic evidence of the intolerable hazardous conditions which exist on this highway.’….The Senator pointed out that only last Wednesday, in hearings before the Roads Subcommittee of the Public Works Committee, he had demanded that Transportation Secretary John Volpe halt policies which delay construction of Interstate highways and which penalize states like Tennessee which have already completed much of their own interstate systems. Baker said he asked Volpe to speed apportionment of funds to fill in gaps between Tennessee’s existing sections of interstate.

“With Interstate 81 still under construction, U.S. 11-W is a major artery for north and southbound truck traffic and has one of the highest accident rates of any road in Tennessee. ‘Because of the heavy truck traffic on that highway,’ commented Tennessee Highway Patrol Capt. Guy Nicholson, ‘It was just a matter of time until something like this happened.’….

“Mrs. Wanda Campbell, 26, 117 Warrior Dr., was among the dead….” (Times News, Kingsport, TN. “11-W Disaster Brings New Highway Pleas.” 5-14-1972, p.1.)

May 14: “Authorities identified the following persons as being among those killed in the Bean Station bus wreck:

1. Bobby G. Garrison, driver of the tractor trailer truck, from Gadsden, Alaa.
2. Frank Flick, the bus driver, Roanoke, Va.
3. Arthur B. Laythe, 50, Webster, Mass.
4. Dunne Hale Baird, 31, White Pine, Tenn. [Also reported as from Bristol, VA. ]
5. Wanda Campbell, 26, Kingsport.
6. Mrs. Mavis Fletcher, 55, Chicago, Ind. (mother of Wanda Campbell).
7. Mary Dunbar, no age [37 ], Forsythe, Ga. [5-month-old daughter survived.]
8. Clara Harris, no age [71 ], Collinsville, Ala.
9. [Patty Nunley, 34, W. Jefferson, NC ]
10. [Mrs. Sella Louise Moore, no age, Richmond, VA ]
11. [Pamela Lou Moore, four-year-old daughter of Stella Moore. ]
12. [Mary Alice Roberts, 27, Alexandria, VA. ]
13. [Kelvin Lynn Roberts, 5, son of Mary Alice Roberts. ]
14. [James P. Roberts, four-month-old son of Mary Alice Roberts. ]

“Efforts were still being made late Saturday to identify three other adults and three children killed in the accident…..” (Times News, Kingsport TN. “A Partial List of Passengers.” 5-14-1972, 10A.)

May 16: “Bean Station – Federal and state investigators agreed Monday that the Greyhound bus involved in the weekend bus-truck wreck that killed 14 people was as much as six feet over the centerline. In a joint statement, the authorities said that is one of the few bits of concrete information that they have been able to nail down in two full days of investigation at the scene…. ‘We spent the first two days (Saturday and Sunday) mostly talking to some of the witnesses,’ Edward Murdrowsky, head of a two-man investigating team from the National Transportation Safety Board, said Sunday night. ‘We still don’t know exactly what happened.’

“Nicholson [TN State Highway Patrol Capt.] said the investigation was hampered by the fact that no skid marks were left at the crash scene, making it difficult to determine the exact point of impact…”(Kingsport News, Kingsport, TN. “Investigators Believe That Greyhound was at Fault.” 5-16-1972, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “14 Killed in Greyhound Bus Crash.” The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. 5-13-1972, p.1. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagerstown-daily-mail-may-13-1972-p-1/

Kingsport News, Kingsport, TN. “Here’s List of Dead in Crash.” 5-16-1972, p. 8. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-news-may-16-1972-p-8/

Kingsport News, Kingsport, TN. “Investigators Believe That Greyhound was at Fault.” 5-16-1972, p. 1. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-news-may-16-1972-p-1/

National Transportation Safety Board. Highway Accident Report. Greyhound Bus/Malone Freight Line, Inc. Truck Collision, U.S. Route 11W, Bean Station, Tennessee, May 13, 1972 (NTSB HAR-73.05). Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted October 25, 1973. Accessed 1-24-2022: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR7305.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3kNO2YT72KMFNjBh5NwnxFEmvp6q0HwHvQ2Oot2st_fvIu17vP0uog9kk

Times News, Kingsport, TN. “11-W Disaster Brings New Highway Pleas.” 5-14-1972, p.1. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-news-may-14-1972-p-1/

Times News, Kingsport, TN. “A Partial List of Passengers.” 5-14-1972, 10-A. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-news-may-14-1972-p-10/