Type of van in fatal N.B. crash banned from use by N.S. schools

The van that went out of control on a New Brunswick highway, resulting in eight deaths, is in a class of vehicle criticized by United States overnment agencies as lacking stability in emergencies. chools in Nova Scotia are banned from using the vehicles and the U.S. overnment has issued safety warnings about them. David White, director f the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board’s motor carrier division, aid the agency moved to end the use of 15-seat vans by schools ollowing two fatal crashes in the province in the 1980s. “We set out to create an alternative method of transport that would be safe,” he said.

In a 1984 accident, four members of a hockey team were killed when the van they were travelling in slid into the rear of a transport truck on a slippery road in Amherst, N.S. White believes Nova Scotia is the only province that prohibits the large vans from being used for school outings. The accident early on Saturday morning involved a 1997 Ford Club Wagon, which has 15 seats. It collided with a transport truck outside Bathurst, killing seven members of a high school basketball team and the wife of the team’s
coach, who was driving the van. He was among four others who survived the accident.

On Monday police released more details of what happened in Saturday’s accident. RCMP Cpl. Dan Melanson said the van’s right-side wheels slipped onto the shoulder of the road and there may have been an “over-correction” before it collided with the truck. “The van then would have come into a skid sideways, crossing the centre
line and with the tractor-trailer heading southbound, that is where the collision occurred.”

Police are still investigating but they have said slippery road conditions were a factor in the accident. They said there was no wrongdoing. The RCMP said the van had all-season radials but not winter tires on it.

In the United States, schools are banned from buying or leasing new 15-seat vans but can use older ones, said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The type of van that went out of control outside Bathurst belongs to a class of vehicle that was criticized five years ago by national transportation safety agencies in the United States as lacking stability in emergencies.

In 2002, a National Transportation Safety Board study in the U.S. said the vehicles “are involved in a higher number of single-vehicle accidents involving rollovers than are other passenger vehicles.” The board said the vans, when loaded with passengers, become less stable and are harder to control in emergency manoeuvres. “Nearly loading a 15-passenger van causes the centre of gravity to move rearward and upward, which increases its rollover propensity,” said the summary at the time.

Tyson said there have been a number of consumer advisories following fatal accidents involving college students. “The administration has issued a series of advisories regarding the rollover risk associated with 15-passenger vans,” he said. “They’ve occurred over the past seven or eight years.”

Authorities in New Brunswick haven’t said if the van involved in the Bathurst crash rolled. The driver has yet to make a public statement about the accident. John McLaughlin, superintendent of the Bathurst-area District 15 school
board, said he wasn’t aware of the prohibition in Nova Scotia or of the U.S. safety reports. “We’ve never considered that. But I can tell you right now, my head isn’t on any of that stuff right now,” he said. “There will be time for
us to be thinking about those things. It’s just not right now.”

A public affairs manager at Ford sent an e-mail response when asked about the National Transportation Safety Board study and safety issues that have been raised in the past. Of course, if asked, we will co-operate fully with the authorities on any future investigations into the accident,” said Gina Gehlert.

Stephanie Simonsen, regional director of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Nova Scotia, said New Brunswick needs to reconsider allowing the transport of students in 15-seat vehicles. Simonsen said her group has been phasing the vehicles out of use since reading the U.S. warnings. “When I saw the announcement (of the accident), I turned to my husband and I said, ‘I bet that was a 15-passenger van’ and … I felt so badly,” she said Monday. “I don’t think they should be allowed, but the other thing we need to do is educate the public.”

Some insurance companies in the United States will no longer insure community agencies that use 15-passenger vans, said an executive with the YM-YWCA in Maine. Rob Reeves, chief executive of the YM-YWCA in Bangor, said he phased
out its five 15-seat vans on the advice of the Redwood Insurance Co. of North Carolina two years ago. “Our automobile insurance carriers started an educational process three years ago,” he said. “The extended-length vehicles aren’t meant to
transport students. “The National Transportation Safety Board said when you have injuries, unfortunately you have catastrophic injuries.”

New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said Monday the province has been focused on helping a community in need, and has not yet considered policies or equipment issues related to the accident. “I don’t particularly want to jump to any conclusions until we see the accident report and we get all the particular details about how this came to happen,” he said. Lamrock said there’s never any “absolute guarantee” that an accident won’t occur. “But we’re going to have a look and we will learn in every way we can about making those choices as risk-free as possible.”

While no other province in Canada has banned the vehicles, the Alberta government says their use is not recommended by schools. The position of the government of Alberta is that students are safest in school buses, and if not school buses then a multi-function activity bus, which is essentially the same thing but it’s not yellow and black, and it doesn’t have the flashing lights, but it’s built and designed to be virtually identical to a school bus,” said Dennis Bell, the director
of vehicle safety for Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation. He added that a provincial group called the School Bus Safety Committee has specifically recommended that 15-passenger vans not be used, and said that he doesn’t think many schools use the vehicles. There’s an awareness in the school bus transportation community that these vehicles are not optimal,” he said.

—————-
Sameen Amin
Associate Producer
CBC News: Today
1.416.205.5084
sameen_amin@cbc.ca

Churches and Missions groups keep vans in spite of dangers

While 15-seater vans are illegal to sell to public schools, they are being sold to private schools, day-care centers, senior centers, churches, missionary groups, etc. In 2005, I received a phone call from the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB is an independent agency that investigates accidents (air, sea, train, motor vehicle) and make recommendations to NHTSA, Federal and state governement agencies. The director thanked me for the Van Angels website and encouraged me to continue to educate the Christian ministries about the dangers of the vans.

The director went on to explain his frustration with the 15-passenger vans. In the past few years, the NTSB has investigated three (3) separate 15-passenger van rollover accidents and made recommendations in all three cases. These recommendations include:

• 2002 – A special drivers license endorsement should be required for anyone driving 10 or more passengers. Today, a person is required to get a commercial drivers license ONLY if they carry OVER 16 passengers. Driver’s would have to pass a special training program similar to the one provided by Guide One Insurance.
• 2002 – Any vehicle carrying 10 or more passengers should meet Federal bus safety requirements. This include roof crush prevention and other safety features that are standard on school buses. Today, 15-passenger vans do NOT have to meet any Federal bus safety standards.
• 2003 – NTSB recommends that NHTSA conducts standard rollover tests on all 15-passenger vans. Today, NHTSA does NO rollover testing because the vans weight over 6,200 pounds, which is the current limit of their rollover testing. NTSB recommends that all vehicles under 10,000 pounds be tested for rollover resistance, including the 15-passenger vans.
• 2004 – That the states should regulate drivers of day-care centers. Today, anybody can drive day-care center children as long as they drive less than 16 kids at a time.

Read the entire NTSB report and their recommendations to NHTSA:

NTSB Safety Report: Evaluation of the Rollover Propensity of 15-passenger Vans (PDF)

According to an NTSB spokesman, about 80% of all NTSB recommendations are adopted by state & federal agencies, including National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA). Yet, as of today, NONE OF THE ABOVE NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 15-PASSENGER VANS HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED. Ironically, many of these recommendations have found their strongest opposition by the Christian Educators Assocation. In short, Christian schools, churches and missions groups have lobbied government officials to ignore the NTSB’s recommendations. They site various reasons for wanting their organizations to be able buy and use 15-passenger vans in spite of the known dangers.

Why would a Christian private school want to transport their kids in a van that has been outlawed by virtually every state in transporting public school children?

Here are some reasons why churches, private schools and missions groups continue to use the van in spite of the known dangers:

• Many non-profit organizations buy 15-seater vans because they are the largest passenger vehicles that you can drive without a commercial drivers license. Nobody in their school, church or missions group has a commercial drivers license. Therefore, they get a non-professional volunteer to drive kids to events, exposing themselves and children to incredible risk.
• They claim they cannot afford to replace the vans. Most of these organizations have not run any analysis on alternatives. Many larger non-profits have run the analysis and found alternatives to be substantially more cost effective. These alternatives include chartering buses for events, buying buses, buying fleets of mini-vans, or retrofitting existing 15-passenger vans with dual rear wheels as a transition strategy.
• They say that the issue is not that big of a deal and besides, “God will protect them” in the event something does happen.
• Most of these organizations buy these vans at a huge discount. Typically, a larger organization gets a written notice from their insurance carrier. The carrier notifies them that they will lose the insurance coverage on their entire fleet if they keep any of their 15-passenger vans. The larger organization make a business decision to sell the vans at a deep discount, as low as $1,500. The used car salesperson will then turn around and sell that same van to a small non-profit organization for less than $5,000. The small organization thinks they have inherited, “a huge blessing from God.”
• Many small organizations receive 15-passenger vans as donations from individuals. These individuals give these vans away to limit their own liability. Many actually know the dangers of the vans or have lost their insurance coverage, so a donation is a quick way to eliminate a problem and get a nice write-off.

BOTTOM LINE: Many small organizations believe the “advantages” above outweigh the potential dangers. Many have not done any sophisticated analysis of the issues, they just hope nothing bad will happen.

• April 2004 – Lack of oversight, driver impairment cited in fatal crash of Memphis child care van
• Aug 2003 – NTSB recommends driver’s training, roof crush prevention, and re-design of seatbelts for 12 and 15-passenger vans (PDF)
• July 2003 – NTSB Cites Drivers’ Inability to control 15-passenger vans following tire failures, recommends drivers’ license endorsement, reclassification
• Dec. 2002 – NTSB Calls for 15-Passenger Van Rollover Improvements
• Nov 2002 – 15-Passenger Van Safety Recommendations

GM Releases 15-Passenger Safety Video

GM Released this video to highlight Stabilitrac, the electronic stability control feature in their new Chevrolet Express and GMC Savannah 12 and 15-passenger vans.

The video also talks about NHTSA’s recommendation to use seat belts, claiming that it will increase your chance of survival by 70% in a rollover situation.

Mark’s Analysis:

• The biggest improvement with the GM 15-passenger vans is the lengthened wheel base. It is substantially longer than the Ford E350 or the Dodge Vans.
• The electronic stabilizer system is a much needed add-on feature. Over the years, the onboard computers that control these stabilizers gets smarter, and hopefully, prevents accidents.
• Ford also added an electronic stabilizer system to its van. Unfortunately, the van’s wheel base is still too short and the left rear tire still has 45% of the weight on it. In the event of a tire de-tread, an electronic stabilizer will have minimal value, especially if the rim is exposed and the rim digs into the pavement, launching the vehicle into a rollover condition.

Why do 15-passenger vans roll over?

Andrew Smith created this video explaining why 15-passenger vans rollover.

Bottom Line: 90% of the rollovers are caused by a left-rear tire de-tread.

Details discussed in this video:

• There is a design flaw in the Ford E-350 (Econoline XLT), that places 45% of the weight on the left rear tire.
• The aisle on the right side of the van contributes greatly to the weight being placed on the left side of the van
• The E-350 requires 50 psi on the front tires and 80 psi on the rear tires. This is the only vehicle on the road requiring different pressures on the front and rear tires.
• The increase weight on the left-rear tire generates excess  heat inside the tire.
• If the tire pressure is lower than manufactured specs, this will significantly increase heat inside the tire.
• Once the heat generated inside the tire exceeds the manufacturers specs, the tire will de-laminate, causing the tire to de-tread.

The following video by narrated by Mark Smith illustrates the same points: