About 7:50 am., p.d.t, on October 8, 1982, an automobile stopped in compliance with a stop sign at the stop line In the southbound lane of 19th Avenue at its intersection with State Route (SR) 198 near Lemoore, California. After waiting for traffic to clear, the driver accelerated the automobile into the intersection. The automobile's engine stalled, and the vehicle came to a stop, blocking the westbound curb lane on SR 198 in which a westbound tractor-semitrailer was approaching the intersection. While the automobile driver was attempting to restart his vehicle's engines the tractor-semitrailer continued toward the intersection with no apparent lessening of speed. The driver started the automobile engine and moved the vehicle forward to a position which partially blocked the westbound curb lane and also partially obstructed the westbound median lane. However, the driver stopped the automobile before clearing the intersection when he saw that the truck was close to his automobile. The truckdriver swerved his vehicle left and applied the brakes to avoid striking the automobile. The truck traveled to the left of the center of the highway, through the intersection and into the eastbound curb lane where it collided head-on with an eastbound van. Nine of the van's 11 occupants were killed in the collision, 1 passenger died 3 days later, and 1 passenger received minor injuries. The truckdriver received serious injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the truckdriver to slow his vehicle while approaching an automobile that was stalled in an intersection and his subsequent failure to control his vehicle while making an avoidance maneuver. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the automobile driver's poor judgment in moving farther into the intersection after he restarted the automobile's engine.
Abstract