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Bus that crashed on I-65 had faulty brakes

By BURTON SPEAKMAN, The Daily News, bspeakman@bgdailynews.com/783-3240
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:10 PM CDT

 

Joe Imel/Daily News
A tour bus crashed around noon Monday on Interstate 65 seven miles north of Franklin, tying up traffic for more than an hour. None of the passengers was injured, paramedics said.

 



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The bus involved Monday in a crash on Interstate 65 had faulty brakes, according to Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement.

The driver of the Smyrna Motorcoach bus, John Pritchett of Tennessee, received four citations from KVE after the accident, Lt. Bruce Patterson said.

There were leaks in the bus' air brakes and one brake had not worked for so long there was rust around the brake drum, he said.

“When the brake was fully depressed, I could still turn the wheel by hand,” Patterson said. “This accident could have been a lot worse.”

- Click here for a photo slideshow of the crash scene on I-65.

None of the 40 children who were part of the noon crash near the Warren-Simpson county line was seriously injured and the group was able to continue their trip.

The driver also was cited for not having the proper medical documentation, Patterson said.

His documentation limited him to the Nashville Metro School District, Patterson said. That part of the citation is being investigated further.

The vehicle had also not received an annual inspection, Patterson said. The fourth citation was not having a proper log of the driver's hours. He didn't have any hours logged since June 24 and those records were incomplete.

“KVE has been discussing cracking down on buses since before the (fatal) accident at the 43 (mile marker on June 26) because they had become a problem,” he said.

The condition of those buses and driving has become an issue, Patterson said.

The children and six adults involved in Monday's crash today were in a temporary shelter at Living Hope Baptist Church organized by the Bowling Green chapter of the American Red Cross, awaiting another bus from Smyrna, Tenn.

The youths were headed to a church camp near Lexington and were from Smyrna First Baptist Church, said Bill Schlicht, spokesman for the local Red Cross.

The children were brought to the church and allowed to use phones to call their parents, he said.

“The adults on the trip have been doing a lot of reassuring,” Schlicht said. “I don't know of any parents coming to pick up their child. There is one child who has an aunt in Bowling Green who came over to check on him.”

The group was provided food and the children were watching “Cars,” waiting for the next bus to arrive, he said.

The accident occurred when the bus ran into the back of a tractor trailer, Kentucky State Police Trooper Michael Hatler said.

Vehicles were merging from the left lane because of a vehicle on the shoulder, he said.

The driver of the tractor trailer told state police that a motorcycle in front of him slowed to a near stop, forcing him to press his breaks hard, Hatler said. That caused the bus to hit the back of the tractor trailer, he said.

The bus' speed was undetermined.

There were a total of 47 people on the bus, including the children, six adults and a driver, Hatler said.

The children ranged in age from 9 to 13, Schlicht said.

Warren County and Simpson County emergency management departments, the Alvaton and Simpson County volunteer fire departments and Warren and Simpson county emergency medical services also provided assistance at the scene.

The bus crash is the second in less than a month in Warren County. A tour bus crashed on June 25 when a driver apparently began to doze and ran off the road.

Two people were killed and 64 injured when the bus struck an overpass on I-65 north of Bowling Green.

The bus driver, Abraham Parker, 63, of Birmingham, Ala., died June 27 from the injuries he suffered in the crash. A passenger, 71-year-old Carrie Walton of Birmingham, Ala., died at the scene.


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