North Carolina Tractor-Trailer Crash Involving School Bus Injures Seven Middle School Students
A North Carolina semi-truck crash involving a school bus on Friday left seven Bunn Middle School kids and their bus driver with minor injuries. Town officials say that the tractor-trailer accident happened because the truck’s brakes allegedly failed as it attempted to stop for a red light. The semi-truck then struck the bus and a smaller truck. State Highway Patrol’s Motor Carrier Enforcement section is probing the truck collision.
Brake Failure
According to the US Department of Transportation Large Truck Crash Causation Study, brake failure and other brake-related issues are the cause of 29.4% of all large truck crashes. Large trucks, which weigh thousands of pounds and can carry thousands of pounds of cargo, cannot afford to have their brakes go out on them.
Brake malfunction, brake defect, and improper brake maintenance can all lead to catastrophic truck crashes. Brake problems can increase the amount of time a truck needs to come to a full stop. They can also make it harder for a truck to avoid getting involved in a traffic crash.
Commercial truckers must be properly trained when operating their large vehicles. An inadequately trained trucker may not know how to perform the proper braking method, and this too can result in serious truck collisions. The sudden stepping of the brakes is a common cause of jackknife truck crashes, which can cause collisions involving multiple vehicles.
7 students, driver injured in activity bus accident in Wake Forest, News Observer, December 10, 2010
7 Students Treated For Minor Injuries After Bus Accident, NBC17, December 10, 2010
Related Web Resources:
The Large Truck Causation Study, FMCSA, July 2007
North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog
Heavy Truck Brake Lining Performance Characterization, ESTD
Fatality Analysis Reporting System, NHTSA
