1983 — March 25, Crash at curve, Jonesboro School District Bus, near Newport, AR — 9

— 9  NTSB. HAR. Jonesboro School District Schoolbus…Overturn…Newport, AR, 25 Mar 1983.

— 9  UPI/Ellen Debenport. “A school bus carrying 41 students and teachers to…” 3-25-1983.[1]

 

Narrative Information

 

NTSB: “Synopsis

 

“About 5:40 a.m. on March 25, 1983, a Jonesboro School District schoolbus was traveling westbound on State Highway 214 near Newport, Arkansas. The schoolbus was transporting 31 high school students and 7 teachers from Jonesboro, Arkansas, to the Annual State Skills Olympics for vocational-technical students in Little Rock, Arkansas. As the schoolbus traveled through a relatively sharp right curve leading to a T-intersection with State Highway 18, it slid across the centerline onto the opposing land’s shoulder and through a stop sign; it continued to yaw and slide across Highway 18, where it overturned and struck the far edge of a roadside drainage ditch. The teacher-driver, 4 other teachers, and 4 students were killed, and 2 teachers and 27 students were injured.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the driver’s failure to slow the schoolbus to a proper speed for negotiating a curve that led to a T-intersection with a stop sign and that had advance “curve” and “stop ahead” warning signs and an advisory speed signal.

 

“Contributing to the accident were the deficiencies of the intersection design and signing system, and the lack of reporting of a large number of low severity accidents and incidents at the curve that would have effectively alerted the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department to deficiencies in the intersection design and signing system.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

“As a result of its investigation of this accident the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that:

 

–the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department:

 

“Revise the ball bank indicator readings used to select and post advisory speeds for curves to conform to the guidelines published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-42)

 

“Determine if the design of the rumble strips installed at the approach to the curve on State Highway 214 has created a hazard because of traffic maneuvering into the opposing traffic lane to avoid the rumble strips, and take action to correct the problem if it is determined that a hazard exists. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-43)

 

–the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

 

“Include in Highway Safety. Program Standard (HSPS) 17–Pupil Transportation Safety and in the “Program Manual” for HSPS 17 the requirement that the States institute quality control procedures for schoolbus repairs to determine if needed repairs have been performed adequately or if major repairs are required. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-44)

 

Include in the “Program Manual” of Highway Safety Program Standard 1–Pupil Transportation Safety:

 

  1. Specific, well-defined qualifications for hiring schoolbus mechanics;

 

  1. Specific skill areas for schoolbus mechanics for which certification of proficiency is required;

 

  1. A bibliography of available courses which can be attended or course curricula which can be used as an example to obtain certification of proficiency in the required skill areas;

 

  1. A requirement to Institute and enforce procedures to prevent school activity groups from organizing, beginning, or continuing trips in mechanically unsafe vehicles; and

 

  1. Requirements to place fire extinguishers at the front and rear of schoolbuses, post signs in schoolbuses on the location and use of emergency equipment, and brief passengers on the location and use of emergency equipment, both periodically and before beginning activity trips. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-45)

 

–all States and the District of Columbia:

 

“Upgrade the quality of schoolbus inspection and repair by examining and revising,. As required, the qualifications and training of and facilities for inspectors and mechanics and by instituting quality control procedures to determine if needed repairs have been performed adequately or if major repairs are required. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-46)

 

“Institute and enforce procedures to prevent activity groups and drivers from organizing, beginning, or continuing trips in mechanically unsafe vehicles. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-47)

 

“Place fire extinguishers at the front and rear of schoolbuses, post signs in schoolbuses on the location and use of emergency equipment, and brief passengers on the location and use of emergency equipment, both periodically and before beginning activity trips. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-83-48).”  (NTSB. HAR. Jonesboro School District Schoolbus…Overturn…Newport, AR, 25 Mar 1983.)

 

UPI: “….The bus was so mangled that some victims had to be cut from the wreckage, witnesses said….” (UPI/Ellen Debenport. “A school bus carrying 41 students and teachers to…” 3-25-1983.)

 

Blanchard on NTSB Corrected Safety Recommendation 10-5-1984: More that a year and a half after the fire extinguisher placement recommendation had been made to the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a letter recommendation to the Administrator in response to another school bus fire,[2] the NTSB wrote:

 

“As a result of its investigation of a schoolbus accident on March 25, 2983, near Newport, Arkansas, the Safety Board recommended to all the States, the District of Columbia, and the NHTSA that fire extinguishers be placed at both the front and rear of schoolbuses, that signs be posted in schoolbuses on the location and use of emergency equipment, and that passengers be briefed on the location and use of emergency equipment, both periodically and before beginning activity trips. To date, the NHTSA has not included a requirement for installation of fire extinguishers at both the front and rear exits of schoolbuses as part of the ‘Program Manual’ of Highway Safety Program Standard 17 — ‘Pupil Transportation Safety.’ The Safety Board reiterates part 5 of its 1983 recommendation to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration….” (NTSB. Corrected Safety Recommendation(s) H-84-75, 10-5-1984.)

 

Sources

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Corrected Safety Recommendation(s) H-84-75. Washington, DC: NTSB, 10-5-1984, 2 pages. Accessed 3-2-2017 at: https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/H84_75.pdf

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Highway Accident Report. Jonesboro School District Schoolbus Run-Off Road and Overturn, Sate Highway 214 at State Highway-18, Near Newport, Arkansas, March 25, 1983 (NTSB HAR-83/03; NTIS PB83-916203). Washington, DC, adopted September 20, 1983. Accessed at: http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1983/HAR8303.htm

 

United Press International/Ellen Debenport. “A school bus carrying 41 students and teachers to…” 3-25-1983. Accessed 3-2-2017 at: http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/03/25/A-school-bus-carrying-41-students-and-teachers-to/2382417416400/

 

 

 

 

[1] Identifies the fatalities as Robert Vlaho, 48, of Paragould; Donald Sloas, 36, of Harrisburg; Lloyd Maherg, 35; Ray Dewitt, 49; Tracy Coleman, 18; driver Donald Ishmael, 44; Rhonda White, 16; Myra Tilman, 18; and Phyllis Potter, 18, all of Jonesboro.

[2] On January 10, 1984, a tractor-semitrailer which was in an accident, then hit a schoolbus in Rehoboth, MA, killing the truck and bus drivers and one student, while injuring 12 students.