Chartered Interstate Bus Crash Interstate Route 1-80S Near Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, December 26, 1968

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Chartered Interstate Bus Crash Interstate Route 1-80S Near Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, December 26, 1968

On December 26, 1968, about 2:40 a.m., a chartered 39-passenger intercity bus enroute from Chicago, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., was traveling east on Interstate Highway, I-80S, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, near Beaver Falls interchange, at a speed of about 60 to 65 m.p.h. Shortly after the bus entered a transitional curve to the left, it ran off the traveled lane to the right, and the rear of the bus slid to the right on a snow-covered shoulder, which sloped down away from the pavement. Following a hard left steering action, the bus yawed to the left. After another over-corrective steering action, it yawed to the right, then headed off the right side of the highway. It crossed the shoulder and ran up onto a raised grassy terrace in front of a turnpike maintenance building. On the frozen snow-covered terrace, the bus veered abruptly to its left as the driver tried to return to the roadway, then vaulted onto the right side of its roof after the right wheels dug into the frozen turf. Still on its roof, the bus slid and bounced off the east end of the terrace and down into a drainage gully, a drop of 10 or 12 feet, and came to a stop with its top and left side resting in the bottom of the gully, its front facing westward. Three passengers were killed in the crash. (Author)