1981 — Feb 18, I-95 commuter bus crash, into Chopawamsic Creek near Quantico, VA– 11

–11  UPI. “Parts analyzed for cause of bus crash.” Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, OH. 2-22-1981, 5.

–11  Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, VA. “Bus Accident Hearing Ends.” 5-7-1981, p. 15.

–11  Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA. “Crash 30 Years ago Still Vivid…Rider.” 6-3-2011.

–11  Hutchinson News, KS.  “Fatal bus’ steering eyed.” 2-22-1981, p. 2.

–11  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  FARS 1975-2010 Fatality Analysis.

–11  Winchester Star, VA. “Wrecked Bus’s Steering Components Revealed Wear…” 5-6-1981.

 

Narrative Information

 

Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg VA, 2011: “….Stafford County resident Paul Johnson survived the crash near Quantico. He was 24, newly married and on his way home from Alexandria when it happened. He was also awake–one of the few passengers to see the accident unfold from inside the bus….”The bus took off in a free fall,” Johnson said in an interview this week. “I remember saying, ‘This is going to hurt.’”  He had enough time to dive to the floor, a move he believes may have saved his life.  “There’s not a lot you can do in two to three seconds,” he said.  The next thing he remembers was regaining consciousness as rescuers dragged him through the mud and frigid creek water.  He had been knocked out, and was covered in cuts and bruises….”  (Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA. “Crash 30 Years ago Still Vivid for Rider.” 6-3-2011.)

 

Newspapers at the Time

 

Feb 19, UPI: “Quantico, Va. (UPI) – A commuter bus changing lanes on a bridge on Interstate 95 skidded along the guard rail and hit an abutment, then toppled headfirst into Chopawamsic Creek killing 10 people and injuring at least 29 others, a Virginia State Police spokesman said.

 

“The Virginia State Police were at a loss to explain why the southbound bus, owned by D&J Transportation, of Fredericksburg, hit the guard rail just after 4 p.m. as it was traveling about 30 miles from Washington on its regular commuter run.  “It was changing lanes from left to right,” said Sgt. Paul Reardon,, who was driving directly behind the bus.  ‘It looked like he (the driver)

never corrected.  He just went right on.”

 

“Most of them were asleep when it happened,” said Martha Selmly, community relations director at Potomac Hospital where 11 of the injured were taken after the Wednesday afternoon accident in rush-hour traffic.  “Several of them said they woke up, they were in the water, “she said.  One man was treated and released while 10 were admitted to the Woodbridge facility, she-said.  Of those 10, one was in critical condition, two serious, and the rest in fair condition, with mostly lacerations and fractures.

 

“Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, which received the 10 killed in the wreck, admitted one man who was in stable condition with a fractured leg and a collapsed lung.  Two other injured women were taken to the Washington Hospital Center’s shock-trauma unit where one was reported in very critical condition and the other in critical condition.

 

“A spokeswoman at Mary Washington Hospital identified the dead as:

 

Carl Earl of Stafford, the bus driver;

Joseph Brown of Spotsylvania;

Virginia Cox of Stafford;

Richard Sagle of Fredericksburg;

Frederick Bennett of Milford;

Dolores Garrison of Fredericksburg;

Margaret Wilson, no address given;

Julia Smith of Fredericksburg, and

Zohrab Tashjian, no address given.

 

“The last victim, a white female, was not identified late Wednesday night.

 

“The bus skidded along the guard rail for 50 to 60 feet before it hit an abutment on the bridge spanning the creek, said Reardon.  It then crashed 50 feet, headfirst into the shallow creek, burying the front in the mud of the south bank.

 

“A number of motorists stopped and ran down the embankment to help the victims, Reardon said….

 

“Mark Milligan, a photographer at the Potomac News, said survivors and victims were trapped together in the wreckage when he arrived.  ‘I could see faces floating just under the surface in the water.  Some (passengers) were alive and trapped.  There was a bunch of dead passengers floating in the water,’ he said.

 

“Wayne Richey, a truck driver from Colonial Heights, Va., said he and others broke bus windows to get to the passengers.  ‘Everyone was wedged in, some of them in shock, some of them dazed – on the verge of being panicked,’ Richey said. ‘There were bodies in the water. There were screams.’  Richey said one woman almost was hysterical because she was under water and a body was on top of her.

 

“He said the driver seemed to have trouble controlling the bus just before he hit the rail.  ‘It was almost like his steering control went out,’ the truck driver said.

 

“The southbound lane of I-95 was closed at the boundary of Prince William and Stafford counties at the creek where the bus went over, police said.” (Tyrone Daily Herald, PA.  “Commuter Bus Crashes Killing 10, Injuring 29.” 2-19-1981, p. 1.)

 

Feb 20: “Quantico, Va. (AP) – Skies were clear and the roads were dry when a commuter bus bound for the Washington suburbs went sailing over the side of a bridge killing 10 people, and investigators say they’re baffled about what might have caused the accident….

 

“Many of the dead were government workers from Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties, according to medical examiner Dr. F. A. Phillips.  The bus had come from Washington.  He said some of the victims suffered fatal head injuries, while some may have drowned in the creek….

 

The bus “`just went airborne over the side of the bridge,,’ said Wayne Richey, a truck driver who saw the accident…`just like a piece of paper being blown by the wind.’

 

“The bus ended up on its side – its engine still running, its front demolished, some passengers trapped – in a foot of water n the Chopowamsic Creek on the sprawling Marine base here….

 

“The edge of the highway was turned into a temporary morgue as the bodies were carried up the hill and laid out in a row on stretchers, covered with yellow sheets….”  (The Capital, Annapolis, MD. “Commuter bus crashes in Va.” 2-20-1981, p. 3.)

 

Feb 22: “Quantico, Va. (UPI) — A fracture in the steering system of a bus that plunged off Interstate 95 killing 11 people was being analyzed to determine whether it contributed to the crash, federal investigators said Saturday.  Peter Kissinger, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators `found a whole slew of broken parts, and several pieces of the steering system were broken.  What they’re doing is putting things under electron microscope to determine whether the fracture was because of fatigue or from the crash,’ he said. `It’s all potentially related to that’.”

 

“The NTSB, state Department of Highways and Transportation officials, state police and General

Motors engineers are “painstakingly” examining the 1959 GMC bus at Quantico Marine Base, Kissinger said.  He said the steering column was being examined in Washington, D.C.

 

“Kissinger said investigators questioned the survivors of the accident, which occurred Wednesday when the bus plunged off a bridge into Chopawamsic Creek.  It was traveling from Alexandria, Va., to Frederiksberg, Va., with 24 people aboard.

 

“The conditions of the 13 injured ranged from fair to critical Saturday, officials said.

 

“NTSB officials said driver illness or fatigue, perhaps even drug or alcohol use, had not been ruled out as possible causes of the crash.  “We heard the toxicity tests on the driver wouldn’t be completed until Monday afternoon,” Kissinger said.  “That’ll be a crucial bit of information”.”

(United Press International. “Parts analyzed for cause of bus crash.” Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, OH. 2-22-1981, p. 5.)

 

May 6: “Washington (AP) — The power steering components on a commuter bus that plunged off a bridge in February, killing 11 persons, showed “extreme wear,” a General Motors Corp. engineer said.  James M. Holden II testified on Tuesday as the National Transportation Safety Board continued its inquiry into the fatal bus accident on Interstate 95 near Quantico Feb. 18.  Holden said the socket, ball joints and bearings inside the 1959 GMC coach’s power steering system had deteriorated far more than any similar parts he had seen before or since.

 

“At the request of a GM attorney on hand at the proceedings, Holden read from the GM owner’s manual for the year and make of the bus, owned by the D&J Transportation Co. of Spotsylvania

County.  The manual states, according to Holden, that the vehicle’s power steering system should be “visually” checked for “excessive play” when other tests on steering parts are conducted.

 

“D&J’s chief mechanic, John Way, testified Monday that he regularly conducted stress tests on the tie rods and other immediately accessible steering parts. But he failed to say if the steering component in question was ever examined.

 

“The NTSB in March issued a recommendation to all owners of GMC buses manufactured in the late 1950s and early 1960s to visually inspect the power steering mechanisms to prevent another tragedy.

 

“Holden sad the bus components have no set life expectancy before they might wear down.  “It’s like brakes. If someone doesn’t use them much, they don’t wear out as fast as they would for someone who wouldn’t use them sparingly,” he said of the power steering apparatus.  One of the conditions that could lead to excessive wear, he said, would be the number of miles on the vehicle.  The D&J bus had been driven an estimated 1.4 million miles at the time of the accident.

 

“Other conditions, he said, could be poor lubrication, or a loose dust cover, which might have been the case on the bus in question.

 

“The NTSB has surmised that mechanical failure may have caused the bus to veer to the right and over a guardrail into a creek.

 

“On two buses of a similar make and model as the D&J vehicle, Holden said, when the power steering components were slightly altered for test purposes the vehicle’s steering mechanisms jammed.” (Winchester Star, VA. “Wrecked Bus’s Steering Components Revealed Wear, Engineer Testifies.” 5-6-1981, p. 3.)

 

May 7: “Washington (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board hearing into a fatal bus crash near Quantico ended Wednesday with testimony that state and federal guidelines regulating commuter buses should be tightened.  The recommendation came from Paul A. Nagle, executive vice president of United Bus Owners of America, which represents 600 of the nation’s some 1,500 bus companies.  Nagle called on the board to back safety laws which pertain strictly to buses.

 

“Many federal and state laws now on the books deal only with large vehicles, which encompass both trucks and buses.  Enacting more stringent maintenance and safety laws is important because, unlike trucks, buses carry a human cargo, Nagle said.

 

“With higher gas prices coming, more commuters will begin relying on the type of services provided by D&J Transportation, the company that owned the bus which plunged off an Interstate 95 bridge near Quantico Feb. 18, killing 11 and injuring 13.

 

“Passengers on those type of commuter buses should be guaranteed some type of safety standard from federal and local governments, Nagle testified.

 

“The NTSB will now collect the data received during the three days of hearings and compile a report outlining the cause of the accident.  It will also make recommendations on how to prevent

similar tragedies in the future. The report is due in about 4 months.” (Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, VA. “Bus Accident Hearing Ends.” 5-7-1981, p. 15.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Bus Accident Hearing Ends.” Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, VA. 5-7-1981, p. 15. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=148134289

 

Associated Press. “Commuter bus crashes in Va.” The Capital, Annapolis, MD. 2-20-1981, p. 3. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=6082479

 

Associated Press. “Wrecked Bus’s Steering Components Revealed Wear, Engineer Testifies.” Winchester Star, VA. 5-6-1981, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=158662476

 

Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA. “Crash 30 Years ago Still Vivid for Rider.” 6-3-2011. Accessed at:  http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/062011/06032011/630133

 

Hutchinson News, KS. “Fatal bus’ steering eyed.” 2-22-1981, p. 2. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=137669755

 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Partial Data Dump of Crashes Involving 10 or More Fatalities, by Year, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1975-2009 Final and 2010 ARF. Washington, DC: NHTSA, pdf file provided to Wayne Blanchard, 1-26-2012.

 

United Press International.  “Commuter Bus Crashes Killing 10, Injuring 29.” Tyrone Daily Herald, PA. 2-19-1981, 1. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=102971075

 

United Press International. “Parts analyzed for cause of bus crash.” Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, OH. 2-22-1981, p. 5. Accessed 5-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/elyria-chronicle-telegram-feb-22-1981-p-5/?tag