About 8:40 a.m., central daylight time, on July 5p 19849 a northbound tractor-semitrailer jackknifed and struck a southbound police patrol car on two-lane U. S. Route 71 about 1 mile south of Ashdown, Arkansas. The patrol car was destroyed, and the four police officers inside were killed. The truck was damaged moderately; the truck driver was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the driver of the tractor-semitrailer combination to maintain a proper interval from the preceding automobile which required a sudden brake application to avoid a collision with the preceding Automobile when it slowed unexpectedly, and resulted in his tractor jackknifing and entering the oncoming traffic lane. Contributing to the accident were the improperly adjusted service brakes on both the tractor and semitrailer.
Samenvatting