Intersection Crash with a Spilled 1203 Placard Trailer
At 3:20 p.m. on a dry two-lane highway in central Minnesota, a pickup truck pulling a utility trailer runs a stop sign and strikes the right front of your 32-passenger bus. The bus stops in the intersection; 19 passengers are aboard, three report neck pain, and one has a bleeding cut on the forehead. The pickup's trailer has overturned and several 5-gallon plastic containers have spilled. You smell gasoline and see liquid running toward a ditch. The pickup driver is pinned and conscious. A placard on the trailer reads 1203. Your bus has a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and reflective triangles. The wind is from the west at 10 mph, and the ditch is on the east side of the road. The bus engine is still running.
1. List your immediate actions in order, and say what you would not do.
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First, secure the scene: set the parking brake, shut off the engine, turn on hazard lights, and take the keys. Second, call 911 with the highway number, intersection, direction, 19 passengers, three neck injuries, one bleeding, a gasoline spill from a trailer placarded 1203, and the wind direction. Third, get passengers out of the bus and move them upwind and away from the ditch and spill, on the west side of the road, at least a few hundred feet if they can walk. I would not approach the spill, smoke, or use a phone near it. I would not try to right the containers or wash the fuel away. I would not move the pinned driver unless there is fire. I would not use the extinguisher unless there is fire.
2. Do you move the three passengers with neck pain? Explain the competing risks.
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Normally no: neck pain after a crash suggests spinal injury, and moving them can worsen it. But a gasoline spill next to the bus creates a fire risk that can kill everyone. I would evacuate them only if the spill or vapors threaten the bus, and then with assistance: support the head and neck, keep them still, and move them the shortest distance upwind. If the spill is not threatening and there is no fire, I would leave them in place, keep them calm, and wait for EMS. I would ask conscious passengers not to get up and would check the bleeding passenger with the first aid kit without delaying the 911 call.
3. What information should you give responders, and what are your post-crash duties?
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I would give the placard number 1203 and the product name if known, the number of containers, liquid flow direction, wind, injuries, passenger count, and whether anyone is pinned. I would not guess about the cargo beyond the placard; I would tell them where any shipping papers might be. Post-crash, as a CDL driver I must remain on scene, give my license and information, and not use alcohol. I must notify my employer; the carrier must have me tested for alcohol and drugs if the crash involved a fatality or an injury requiring treatment away from the scene, within the required time. I would not discuss fault or speculate about the pickup driver.