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Old 03-30-2015, 07:30 AM   #1
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Van crash in FL kills 8

Not SMB-related, but it caught my eye this morning. A Dodge EB van from a church crashed, killing 8 people. The van was carrying 18 people! These EB vans are tricky enough to drive, much less when being driven 1) overloaded, and 2) likely by somebody unfamiliar with driving a big van.

Photos of the smashed front end are pretty bad...

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state ... des-county

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Old 03-30-2015, 08:44 AM   #2
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

That's really a sad situation. Sounds like lots of things went wrong. Straight through a stop sign at a T intersection? The driver must've been way distracted, it looks like a wide open area. Unfortunately, 18 people in a 15 passenger van sounds like they weren't very careful to begin with.
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Old 03-30-2015, 08:54 AM   #3
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

Agree that it's very sad.

12:31am? Maybe the driver fell asleep? Also one of the eighteen was a 4 year old, so if in a passenger seat, that would take up even more room.


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Old 03-30-2015, 10:02 AM   #4
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

I've read about 12-passenger vans in general being tricky, due to so much weight aft and up so high (as compared to typical cargo), not to mention perhaps often being driven by folks relatively unfamiliar with them (church van, etc.).

Edited to add: After reading the linked article, I'm going to start a separate thread for my EB handling questions instead of asking here. What a horrible outcome for that trip.
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Old 03-30-2015, 11:57 AM   #5
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

It pretty much has to be an asleep-at-the-wheel scenario, to blow a stop sign and drive right into a canal. Sad.

15-passenger vans are safe, IF people actually know how to drive them. I see it all the time at my church... they load of the van with people and some random person hops in the driver's seat and drives off. Always scares me. Some insurance companies won't cover vans with more than a 12-person capacity, so you'll see a 15-person (EB) van without the rear seat to meet the requirement.

Add in maintenance issues, tire inflation, etc., and it can get even more scary.
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Old 03-30-2015, 12:52 PM   #6
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

BTW, I said "12-passenger vans" above, but I guess that was a mistake. At any rate, I meant the maximum passenger vans, which I guess are 15 not 12.

But yeah, scary.

I went on a couple of scout trips back in the day. Three of this type van in a caravan, each one packed to the gills with kids and luggage, all of us no doubt cavorting around in back being distracting (seatbelts?). Plus toss in snowy roads (were heading to Florida in March), driving after dark so as to make it in three days..... and a volunteer "leader" at the wheel who probably had a small sedan at home and a basic driver's license. Luckily nothing like this ever happened.
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Old 03-30-2015, 05:27 PM   #7
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

Brian, I agree completely.

Viva, I think that was pretty much everywhere a generation or two ago.

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Old 03-30-2015, 08:35 PM   #8
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Re: Van crash in FL kills 8

Hi Guys
I work in the film industry up here in vancouver bc. (im a chef)
Anyhow about 8 years ago there was a similiar accident in van that happened . 17 adults in the van.
Anyhow not long after that the teamsters union which is what runs the transport dept on film shoots passed new rules
18 Pass extended vans no longer allowed to be used. They switched to sprinter vans very quickly.
Some indie film projects still rent 18pass van for film shoots, but I dont see them very much anymore.
Mostly they get used for shuttling crew on film lots at low speed...
I worked on GMC pickup commercial once(the one the guy puts the falcon back in th nest on top of the mountainside.
it was filmed at Whistler on blackcomb mountain. That day I had cook for the crew and pack it up for travel.
We drove up blackcomb mountain to 5700 ft elevation (chairlift building at seventh heaven) in 18pass ford 4x4 A clydesdale conversion.
It was very cool...
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