From Deseret News archives:

USU van was going 95-100 mph when it rolled, UHP says

Published: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005 11:13 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
The van involved in the single-vehicle accident Monday that killed eight Utah State University students and an instructor was likely going between 95 and 100 mph when it crashed, the Utah Highway Patrol said Thursday.

"There is no good explanation," USU spokesman John DeVilbiss said. "It's uncharacteristic with a driver with a commercial driver's license. Information like this, it's unfathomable."

The accident investigation is also definitely showing that USU instructor and academic adviser Evan Parker, 45, was driving the van when it crashed, UHP trooper Jeff Nigbur said, noting that the fatal injuries to the popular agriculture professor are consistent with a person in the driver's seat during a rollover.

Both UHP and National Highway Safety Transportation Board investigators maintain that none of the 11 occupants was wearing a seat belt, despite claims by the families of the survivors that using seat belts was routine for their sons.

Survivors Jared Nelson, 22, Woodburn, Ore., and Robert Petersen, 21, Tremonton, have similar diagonal bruising across their chests that their parents believe are consistent with injuries a seat belt could have caused during the extremely violent crash.

Nelson is comatose and remains in critical condition at Ogden Regional Medical Center. Peterson is in serious condition at McKay-Dee Hospital.

Story continues below
UHP officials will continue their investigation of the crash, which includes examining the tires and other factors that could have caused the van to roll four times.

"Doing 95 to 100 mph will affect things on your vehicle. There are a lot of forces that go into it," Nigbur said. "Tires, they are speed-rated for certain speeds. Maybe some tires aren't made to go that fast. There are just a lot of different facts that go into getting an answer."

The blown tire, DeVilbiss said, had been on the vehicle since 2000 and had 16,000 miles of wear, he said.

"We're pretty confident that this tire was safe," he said the night of the accident. "They are very careful about maintaining these vehicles." The 1994 Dodge Ram van passed a state vehicle inspection on June 8, he said.

In May, the NHTSA warned of the dangers of driving on tires that are not properly inflated, which increases the risk of rollover.

The 15-passenger vans appear to have the highest risk of rollover under heavily loaded scenarios on high-speed roads, according to the NHTSA, which issued a 2004 report recommending that vans "should be driven with the utmost care while driving on high-speed roads."

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

It is little wonder BYU has such little credability in the academic communinity.

To: RE: Christy,abortion is murder | 5:47 p.m. Nov. 21, 2009...

The members of PETA need to look at every piece of research that has...

TCU still has a chance

You BCS apologists and your stupid arguements smell like doo doo. The...

3A: Juan Diego 12, Hurricane 10

You are correct, there is something special about JD and we do respect that,...

Sean - ur my eyedol wish u wer still hear to kik sum syrius kooog butt on...

This year it all depends on BYU, and which team decides to show up. If the...

Huntsman pleased with Obama

Proud NONsupporter of anti American Presidents.

As China moves towards a more free society they are rapidly becoming the...

We ought to have a civil war

Advertisements