Friday, August 14, 2009

22 Year Old Driving Bus With Trailer Bus involved in crash belonged to Queen's charity



NOTE: Should a 22 year old be driving a bus pulling a trailer?

Again... we have no standards, no training on how to tow.

What if the actions of this driver would have killed a child?

Bus involved in crash belonged to Queen's charity

Posted By THE WHIG-STANDARD

Posted 1 day ago


The bus involved in a crash Tuesday morning in Centre Hastings belonged to a Queen's charity that sponsors camp vacations for low-income and troubled youths.

Camp Outlook, a charitable foundation based in Kingston that puts on summer and winter camping trips for young people, was the operator of the bus that was carrying 16 campers on a day trip to Algonquin Park.

No one was seriously injured in the crash, which happened north of Madoc, but the 22-year-old driver of the bus was charged with careless driving.

The passengers of the vehicle, which was pulling a trailer loaded with canoes when the accident occurred, were taken to the Bancroft General Hospital for examination, where they were treated for minor injuries and released.

No one from Camp Outlook was available to speak about the accident yesterday.

The camp, which will mark its 40th anniversary next year, is run through private donations and the support of the Ontario government, which this year gave it $30,000 to buy a new bus to transport campers.

Most of the Camp Outlook participants are teens referred to the charity by a social agency or school, and more than 130 young people take part in the camps each summer.

Outlook was started in 1970 by Ron Kimberly, a Queen's University medical student, who was a camping enthusiast and a believer of the therapeutic value of the wilderness for young people.

Trailer came unhitched on Ring Road in Regina



Police responded to the northbound Ring Road as it crosses over Victoria Avenue Thursday morning after a trailer came loose from a truck.

Photograph by: Marlon Marshall, Leader-Post


REGINA — Police have charged the driver of the truck for having an unregistered trailer and for improper hitch assembly after his trailer came unhitched on the Ring Road around 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

The male driver of the truck was travelling northbound on Ring Road, driving on the Victoria Avenue overpass when the incident occurred. Police said the pin on the utility trailer's hitch snapped and sent the trailer down the road on its own.

The trailer made it just past the overpass before it veered off the road and rolled into the ditch

The wheels have come off... From a Homemade Utility Trailer


Reporting by Kyle Mullin


Russell Hayward walks past his overturned trailer next to the Trans-Canada highway on Wednesday afternoon. The Nevers Road man was unhurt in the single-vehicle accident. Hayward entered the eastbound lane of the divided highway at the nevers road intersection hauling a small, homemade trailer loaded with three logs destined for a sawmill. “i was on my way, and she just started swayin’,” he said of the trailer. The left wheels flew off of his trailer, sending him into a tailspin straight into the ditch.



Comments

Similar situation as last week with the travel trailer. Too much weight on the rear of the trailer judging by the size & length of the logs. This causes the "tail wagging the dog". In this case, it probably swayed to the point it either rolled the tires off the rims or broke the rims away from the axle hubs completely.

Prevention is the name of the game with proper weight distribution. However if it does occur, take your foot off the gas and slow down gradually. Jamming on the brakes will generally cause the trailer to beat you to your destination. If you have trailer brakes and the presence of mind, you can apply those brakes only to get whoaed up.



Robert Clinch, St. Stephen on 13/08/09 08:29:11 AM ADT
Homemade trailer..probably need engineered correctly. two sets of axle not lined up properly + heavy load will do this. Sometimes it's better to let the professionals do the job. Especially when public safety comes into play...



Enough is Enough, Clearview on 13/08/09 01:50:24 PM ADT
Do these trailers have to pass some kind of inspection? If not, why not?


RA EL, Fredericton on 13/08/09 08:42:55 PM ADT
A trailer has to pass a motor vehicle inspection each year, same as your car. However I think all they check is lights, tires, wheel bearings and brakes (if applicable). Structural integrity (excessive rust, etc) would probably come into it as well. I'm not a mechanic, but I did learn to drive 40+ yrs ago towing a trailer, so I have some experience that way.

But as the previous poster implied, if it isn't constructed properly in the first place, i.e. axles not lined up, that may not be picked up during an inspection.

While that could very well have played a part in this case, looking at the length of the trailer and the size & length of the logs, I suspect there was too much weight aft of the axles which will cause the tail wagging the dog every time.


Robert C., St. Stephen on 14/08/09 08:00:28 AM ADT
Oops, sorry I forgot to mention that they also inspect the coupling mechanism