At 10:50 a.m. on October 13, 2003, a 1992 Neoplan USA Corporation 49-passenger motorcoach, owned and operated by the First Baptist Church of Eldorado, Texas, was traveling eastbound on Interstate 20 near Tallulah, Louisiana. The motorcoach, carrying 14 passengers, was en route from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as part of a multicity sightseeing tour that had originated in Eldorado. As the motorcoach approached milepost 168, it drifted rightward from the travel lanes and onto the shoulder, where it struck the rear of a 1988 Peterbilt tractor semitrailer operated by Alpha Trucking, Inc., which was stopped on the shoulder at milepost 167.9. As both vehicles moved forward, the motorcoach rotated clockwise slightly and the semitrailer rotated counter-clockwise slightly; the vehicles remained together. They traveled approximately 62 feet and came to rest, still oriented to the east, adjacent to the right side of the interstate on the outside shoulder. Eight motorcoach passengers sustained fatal injuries, the motorcoach driver and six passengers received serious injuries, and the Peterbilt driver was not injured. Major safety issues identified in this report include driver fatigue, the adequacy of State and Federal oversight of motor carriers, the identification and appropriate use of speed-restricted tires on motorcoaches, criteria for State and Federal annual inspections of motorcoach passenger seating anchorage points, and performance standards for motorcoach passenger seating anchorages. As a result of its investigation of this accident, the Safety Board makes safety recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, and Napoleon USA Corporation.
Samenvatting