On June 51, 1980, about 12:47 a.m., a northbound Central Texas Bus Lines, Inc. charter bus occupied by the driver and 32 passengers accelerated out of control while descending a long, curved, steep grade on State Route 7 about 1 mile South of Jasper, Arkansas. The bus failed to negotiate a left curve, and ran off the right pavement edge into a drainage channel. The bus continued for 280 feet, impacted a berm at a concrete covert, was redirected across the highways and vaulted down a steep embankment. Twenty bus occupants, including the driver, were killed and 13 passengers were injured. The National Tansportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a combination of circumstances which resulted in the driver's inability to control the bus as it descended a steep, winding grade. These circumstances included driver fatigue, reduced fuel flow from a nonstandard fuel pump which adversely affected the busdriver's ability to downshift, and the improperly maintained airbrake system. Contributing to the accident was the management decision which permitted dispatching of a driver with inadequate time to complete the trip within permissible hours and the carrier's inadequate preventive maintenance program for this bus.
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