Bad weather conditions, distracted driving, following to closely. All these things can lead to an accident. But a professional driver should know better and also know the ability of vehicles to brake can be drastically different during bad weather. However this knowledge didn’t stop a propane truck from slamming into the back of a bus last week in Farmington, Virginia (VA).
The propane truck collided with a small Coast bus Wednesday morning on Route 11 and then went down Central Street and clipped a utility pole.
Both vehicles were traveling east on Route 11 around 11 am, when the Coast bus stopped to take a left onto Central Street. The Eastern Propane truck then hit the back of the bus before veering left down Central Street. The truck’s driver was in and out of consciousness on scene and taken to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester for treatment. Thankfully the propane truck did not catch fire, or their may have been many more injuries and the driver would have certainly lost his life though I wish him speedy recovery from the serious injuries he already has. As it was, the people who on the bus received minor injuries.
A photo from the scene shows the bus ripped open like a cereal box. The propane truck must have been going much faster than road conditions would allow. A police spokes man said the crash was a terrible scene of mangled metal.
“The propane truck’s cab was destroyed and the rear of the bus had essentially disintegrated from the impact. I’m really surprised we’re not looking at something worse,” he said of the injuries, noting that none appeared to be life threatening.
As an attorney familiar with truck accidents I know that the standards expected for commercial driver’s licenses both in Virginia and nationally require drivers to exercise a higher standard of care and be extremely careful. A driver who is carrying a dangerous load such as propane such be doubly careful. It is hard to imagine that the driver was anything but negligent, unless there was an equipment problem such as if the brakes on the truck were defective then the responsibility would fall on the propane company.
CA