MAY 13, 2015
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As part of its continuing investigation into the collision
of a truck and a motorcoach that occurred in Orland, CA, the National
Transportation Safety Board has opened the accident docket, releasing about
2,150 pages of documents.
On April 10, 2014, a Volvo truck-tractor in combination with two trailers operated by FedEx Freight, Inc., crossed the center median of Interstate 5, collided with a Nissan Altima and then collided head-on with a Setra motorcoach on the northbound side of the highway. Both the truck and motorcoach drivers and eight motorcoach passengers were fatally injured. The two occupants of the passenger vehicle and the 37 motorcoach passengers received non-fatal injuries. The information released is factual in nature and does not provide any analysis. Included in the docket are witness and passenger interviews, reports on various issue areas, and photographs. The docket material is available at: http://go.usa.gov/3kdaH
Additional material may be added to the docket as it
becomes available. Analysis of the accident, along with a determination of
probable cause, will come later when the final report on the investigation is
completed.
This is a document release only. No interviews are being
conducted.
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ACCIDENT SUMMARY
On Thursday, April 10, 2014, about 5:40 p.m., Pacific Daylight
Time (PDT), a 2007 Volvo truck tractor in combination with two 28-foot trailers
operated by FedEx Corporation was traveling southbound in the right lane of Interstate
5 (I-5) in Orland, California.
At the same time, a 2014 Setra motorcoach operated by Silverado
Stages Inc., and occupied by a driver, 43 high school students, and three adult
chaperones was traveling northbound on I-5 in the right traffic lane. In the vicinity
of milepost 26.02, the FedEx combination vehicle moved to the left, departing the
southbound traffic lanes and entering the 58-foot wide center median.
The vehicle drove through a line of oleander bushes in the center
of the median and entered the northbound traffic lanes of I-5. It collided with
the left rear portion of a white 2013 Nissan Altima four-door passenger car, occupied
by a driver and one passenger, which had just passed the Sentra motorcoach and moved
back into the right lane of northbound I-5.
The Nissan rotated counterclockwise and departed the highway
on the east side. Following the impact with the passenger car, the combination vehicle
collided with the motorcoach, and both vehicles departed the highway to the east.
A post-crash fire ensued. The fire consumed the combination vehicle and partially
burned the motor coach. The front of the motorcoach received significant damage
that exposed the vehicle’s interior.
As a result of the collision, the drivers of both the combination
vehicle and motorcoach were fatally injured. Eight motorcoach passengers were also
fatally injured. The remaining passengers received injuries of varying degree. The
occupants of the Nissan passenger car received minor injuries.
The combination vehicle had originally departed from the FedEx
facility in Sacramento, California, at about 10:00 a.m. and drove to Weeds, California
(located in Siskiyou County, approximately 49 miles south of the Oregon border),
where the driver delivered two trailers.
At about 3:30 p.m., the driver picked up two other 28-foot trailers
and was en route back to Sacramento when the accident occurred. The motorcoach,
part of a chartered trip originating from Los Angeles, California, was taking high
school students to Humboldt University, in Arcata, California, for a tour of the campus.
The motorcoach had made a scheduled stop in Sacramento, where
a replacement driver took over operation of the vehicle.