NTSB -- NTSB ISSUES UPDATE ON INVESTIGATION INTO MARCH 26 HIGHWAY ACCIDENT THAT KILLED 11 IN KENTUCKY

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NTSB ADVISORY

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

May 14, 2010

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NTSB ISSUES UPDATE ON INVESTIGATION INTO MARCH 26 HIGHWAY

ACCIDENT THAT KILLED 11 IN KENTUCKY

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In its continuing investigation of the highway accident that

killed 11 people near Munfordville, Kentucky, in March, the

National Transportation Safety Board has developed the

following factual information:

On Friday March 26, 2010, at approximately 5:17 a.m. CDT, a

76,660-pound tractor-trailer combination truck traveling

southbound on I-65 near Munfordville, KY, departed the left

travel lane at about a five-degree angle, crossed a 60-foot

wide grass median, overrode a four-cable guardrail barrier

and struck a 15-passenger van that was traveling in the left

northbound lane. The truck continued across the northbound

travel lanes, overturning, struck a stone wall, and was

engulfed in a post-crash fire. The van came to rest upright,

facing in a southerly direction in the northbound lanes; it

was not involved in any post-crash fire.

The 1999 Freightliner truck in combination with a 53-foot

semitrailer was operated by a 45-year-old male who was

fatally injured in the accident. The 2000 Dodge van was

operated by a 41-year-old male and occupied by 11 passengers

(8 adults, two children and an infant). The two children

were secured in child restraint seats and survived with

minor injuries. The infant, who was secured in a child

restraint seat, and all nine adults in the vehicle were

fatally injured. Eight of the nine adults were not wearing

seat belts.

The truck was on a 690-mile trip from Lansing, Michigan to

Cullman, Alabama. The driver set out from Lansing at about 4

p.m. the previous day. The accident occurred about 13 hours

later with about 243 miles remaining in the trip.

Investigators are trying to determine how many hours the

truck driver was operating the vehicle and if he took any

rest periods between his departure from Lansing and the

point at which the accident occurred. The truck was not

equipped with an electronic onboard recorder to document the

number of hours the driver spent operating the vehicle, and

the logbook in which the driver manually records operating

hours was destroyed in the post-crash fire.

A toxicology test on the truck driver was negative for

alcohol and nine legal and illegal drugs. At this point in

the investigation, no medical issues have been found that

might have led to a sudden incapacitation of the truck

driver.

The posted speed limit in the area near the accident site on

I-65 was 70 mph. The truck departed the roadway while

traveling on a 2.6 percent downgrade. No determination has

yet been made as to the speed of the truck at the point of

roadway departure or at the point of impact.

The pre-dawn accident occurred in nighttime visual

conditions. The roadway was damp at the time of the accident

from an earlier rain. Several hundred yards of the

southbound lanes of I-65 preceding the point at which the

truck departed the roadway were inspected and no evidence of

any type of tire or other mechanical debris from the truck

was found.

After a multiple-vehicle median crossover accident killed

five people in 2008 on the same stretch of I-65, a four-

cable barrier system was installed in 2009 at the edge of

the left shoulder of the northbound lanes.

Investigators have determined that the truck driver was

using a mobile phone at some point leading up to the

accident. It has not yet been determined if the driver was

using the mobile phone at the time the truck departed the

roadway nor has any determination been made as to whether

the use of the mobile phone was a factor in the accident.

The investigation is on-going and is expected to be

completed in 12-18 months.

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NTSB Media Contact: Peter Knudson

(202) 314-6100

peter.knudson@xxxxxxxx

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