Canon City, Colorado
December 21, 1999,
NTSB Number: HAB-02-19
Adopted December 17, 2002
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About 9:05 p.m. on December 21, 1999, a 1999 Setra 59-passenger motorcoach, operated by Sierra Trailways, Inc. (Sierra Trailways), was traveling eastbound on State Highway 50 along a 7-mile-long downgrade west of Canon City, Colorado, when it began to fishtail while negotiating a curve near milepost (MP) 272.3. At the time, the motorcoach was traveling 63 mph. The speed limit on the descent was 65 mph, with an advisory speed limit of 55 mph on the curves along this section of the roadway. The driver recovered the vehicle from the fishtail, and the motorcoach gained speed as it descended the mountain. Approximately 36 seconds later, as the motorcoach was traveling about 70 mph, the driver lost control of the vehicle on a curve. The motorcoach drifted off the right side of the road, struck MP 273 and a delineator, returned to the road, rotated clockwise 180 degrees toward the centerline, and departed the north side of the roadway backward. The vehicle rolled at least 1.5 times down a 40-foot-deep embankment and came to rest on its roof. The driver and 2 passengers were killed; 33 passengers sustained serious injuries and 24 sustained minor injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the motorcoach driver's inability to control his vehicle under the icy conditions of the roadway; the driver initiated the accident sequence by inappropriately deciding to use the retarder under icy conditions. Why the busdriver did not, or was unable to, slow the vehicle before the crash could not be determined.
As a result of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board makes the following safety recommendations:
To the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
Develop, in cooperation with the United Motorcoach Association and the American Bus Association, a booklet that educates motorcoach drivers on the different types of retarders and on their use during low-friction-coefficient road conditions. Then, distribute this information to motorcoach carriers and other interested parties. (H-02-33)
To the United Motorcoach Association and the American Bus Association:
Work with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop a booklet that educates motorcoach drivers on the different types of retarders and on their use during low-friction-coefficient road conditions. Then, distribute this information to motorcoach carriers and other interested parties. (H-02-34)
To the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society of Automotive Engineers:
Work together, as part of your initiative to establish on-board vehicle recorder standards, to develop standards for brake and transmission electronic control units that require those units to store a full history of electronic fault codes that are time stamped using a recognized clock synchronized with other on-board event data recording devices. (H-02-35)
