Apple Barrel owner's letter to DOT foreshadowed Schoharie limo crash

[TexasTowelie]

SCHOHARIE — In the fall of 2012, Bob Loden, the owner of the Apple Barrel Country Store & Cafe, wrote a desperate letter to a regional director of the state Department of Transportation.

Loden's letter to John Williams reported that over the prior three months three trucks headed down a steep section of Route 30 toward the intersection with Route 30A — and the front of his popular tourist destination — crashed into his parking lot. In each case, the vehicle's brakes failed.

Two of the trucks came dangerously close to smashing into his 1,000-gallon propane tank, a frightening scenario Loden didn't want to contemplate. "If a brake failure were to occur on a busy fall weekend, multiple lives are at risk as well as property," Loden wrote Williams.

Although the DOT would eventually ban all truck traffic on that steep section of Route 30 in 2015, Loden's words are both chilling and prophetic. The 2012 letter foreshadowed what would happen six years later when, on Oct. 6, 2018, a 31-foot stretch Ford Excursion limousine, its brakes failing, sailed down Route 30 at 100 mph and slammed into the parking lot where it hit a Toyota Highlander and crashed in a ditch. The driver and all 16 passengers in the limo died as did two men standing in the lot.

Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Apple-Barrel-owner-s-letter-to-DOT-foreshadowed-16072069.php

[patphil]

1. I hope he's had the sense to relocate that 1000 gallon propane tank.

[IbogaProject]

2. downshift

If you even think your brakes aren't working downshift, even automatic transmissions have low gear, which will greatly slow your vehicle and get you slowed down enough to able to coast to a stop in neutral once you're down below 25 MPH. Neutral is dangerous at higher speeds.

[PJMcK]

4. Doesn't the emergency brake help, too?

On my car, the hand brake engages the rear brakes. That could help slow down a vehicle.

The limo crash had several factors not the least of which was the recklessly fast driving by the limo's driver.

[abqtommy]

3. Years ago when I drove the big trucks some of them were equpped with the

Jacobs Engine Compression Brake. I loved those. They are an expensive option, but
well worth it.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Thanks for the followup

What a tragedy.

[TexasTowelie]

6. You're welcome.

The one benefit of cycling through the media sites like I do is that I often will catch the followup stories like this one. I've done this long enough that I'm able to recall information that I've posted from several years ago.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. That was such an avoidable tragedy!

And, doing what you do, you learn about what's going on in different areas of the country. There was another terrible accident this past weekend just north of here that everyone's talking about. Not as horrific, but still pretty terrible. Up north in Warrensburg, a tractor trailer pulled out onto the main street and mowed down 3 people crossing the street, 2 died. It's a fairly small town, so this was big news in these parts.