It is an old advertising slogan “so much is riding on your tires.” The below story of a Mississippi fatal bus crash proves that point.
We have often blogged on this topic, but buses are not just tragic for the death that flows from them, but also the high probability of brain injury in such wrecks. No seat belts, no airbags, none of the safety engineering that has reduced the risk of brain injury so dramatically in passenger cars. We pray that those attending the injured do more than push pain killers and look for the obvious injury, but also ask probing questions of memory and cognitive function, so that any subtle brain injury is identified.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://fishtail.tv
http://subtlebraininjury.com
Date: 7/12/2009 7:27 PM
MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — A bus carrying a church youth group from Louisiana to Georgia flipped Sunday on Interstate 20 in Mississippi, killing one person and injuring 23 others, a coroner said.
The bus, from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., rolled three times around 10:20 a.m. near Meridian and trapped at least two people underneath, Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler III said.
“It had a blowout,” Cobler said.
At least two passengers were trapped underneath the bus. A group of National Guard soldiers was on the highway at the time and helped extricate the injured.
“The National Guardsmen actually picked the bus up off the two people and got them out,” Cobler said.
An 18-year-old male was pronounced dead at a hospital, Cobler said. His name was not released.
Three people were airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, including one with severe head injuries, while the others were being treated at three hospitals in Meridian, the coroner said.
Cobler said injuries ranged from severe pelvic, back, and chest injuries to scrapes and scratches.
An official at Regency Hospital of Meridian said six people were taken there and another official at Rush Foundation Hospital said 13 people were being treated there, but neither would release the conditions of the crash victims.
Church officials told The Shreveport Times newspaper that the bus was headed to a weeklong youth event near Atlanta called “Passport.”
Phone messages left with the Mississippi Highway Patrol and Birmingham, Ala.-based Passport Inc. were not immediately returned.
The congregation learned of the accident shortly before Sunday morning worship and used the occasion to rally together in prayer.
“Our congregation is leaning on our faith and confidence in God,” First Baptist senior pastor Greg Hunt said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Salt shortage, high prices may mean slippery roads
Date: 9/22/2008 3:38 PM
By CHARLES WILSON
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ A shortage of road salt and skyrocketing salt prices could mean slippery roads this winter in communities across the nation as officials struggle to keep pavement clear of snow and ice without breaking their budgets.
Heavy snow last year heightened demand for salt, and now many towns can’t find enough of it. The shortage could force many cities to salt fewer roads, increasing the risk of accidents. Other communities are abandoning road salt for less expensive but also less effective sand or sand-salt blends.
“The driving public may be the ones who suffer on this,” said Robert Young, highway superintendent for northwestern Indiana’s LaPorte County, which has 20,000 tons of salt on hand — only half as much as needed to last a normal winter. Because of the shortage, three companies refused to bid on the county’s request for more.
Prices have also tripled from a year ago. The salt industry says the increased demand and higher fuel costs are to blame. But some officials insist salt prices have spiked more dramatically than fuel.
“That explanation doesn’t wash,” said Tom Barwin, city manager in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., one of several officials who have asked the Illinois attorney general to investigate the price increases. The office said it doesn’t have jurisdiction.
The United States used a near-record 20.3 million tons of road salt last year, largely because areas from the Northeast to the Midwest had heavier-than-average snowfall. Parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, for instance, got four to six times their typical amounts. Vermont, New Hampshire and other areas set records.
The harsh winter left salt storage barns virtually empty. Communities that needed additional salt late in the season had trouble finding it because supplier stockpiles had also been depleted, according to Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, a trade group.
This year, many states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, requested bids early, Hanneman said, and salt orders grew significantly. Five states increased their orders by a total of 2 million tons over last year.
Suppliers quickly realized that at that pace, they would not have enough salt to bid on other contracts, he said.
The rising cost of gasoline and diesel compounded the situation, Hanneman said. Road salt — which, unlike table salt, is sold in large crystals — is transported by barge and truck from mines in Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. Some is shipped from as far away as Chile in South America.
State agencies that maintain interstate highways are supplied first, leaving smaller communities the hardest hit by the shortage, Hanneman said.
In Chesterton, Ind., about 135 miles northwest of Indianapolis, salt suppliers allotted the town only the 800 tons it uses in an average year — even though last year’s snowfall was double the normal amount.
“Between safety and politics, we’re going to have to salt the roads,” Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg said.
Last year, Chesterton paid Chicago-based Morton Salt $41.23 a ton for road salt. This year’s quote came in at $103.63.
Morton spokesman Joe Wojtonik said the company increased production at its mines after orders rose between 8 and 28 percent.
“We’re producing at the highest practical safe level we can,” he said.
Schnadenberg plans to conserve salt when winter begins. “I think all the communities are going to replan on how much they salt and where,” he said.
Other communities expect to use more sand or to adopt a cheaper sand-salt mixture. Neshannock Township in New Castle, Pa., plans to use a special pretreated salt mixture that isn’t as expensive as regular road salt.
Livingston County, Mich., is turning to a slurry made from sugar beet pulp mixed with salt brine that could trim 25 percent from the county’s $4 million snow-and-ice removal budget.
Still, this year’s salt shortage could pose risks for motorists, who may need to learn to drive on slippery roads or stay home.
Said Neshannock Township Supervisor John DiCola Jr.: “Some of the services we’ve been receiving … maybe we just aren’t going to be able to do that anymore.”
___
Associated Press Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By CHARLES WILSON
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ A shortage of road salt and skyrocketing salt prices could mean slippery roads this winter in communities across the nation as officials struggle to keep pavement clear of snow and ice without breaking their budgets.
Heavy snow last year heightened demand for salt, and now many towns can’t find enough of it. The shortage could force many cities to salt fewer roads, increasing the risk of accidents. Other communities are abandoning road salt for less expensive but also less effective sand or sand-salt blends.
“The driving public may be the ones who suffer on this,” said Robert Young, highway superintendent for northwestern Indiana’s LaPorte County, which has 20,000 tons of salt on hand — only half as much as needed to last a normal winter. Because of the shortage, three companies refused to bid on the county’s request for more.
Prices have also tripled from a year ago. The salt industry says the increased demand and higher fuel costs are to blame. But some officials insist salt prices have spiked more dramatically than fuel.
“That explanation doesn’t wash,” said Tom Barwin, city manager in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., one of several officials who have asked the Illinois attorney general to investigate the price increases. The office said it doesn’t have jurisdiction.
The United States used a near-record 20.3 million tons of road salt last year, largely because areas from the Northeast to the Midwest had heavier-than-average snowfall. Parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, for instance, got four to six times their typical amounts. Vermont, New Hampshire and other areas set records.
The harsh winter left salt storage barns virtually empty. Communities that needed additional salt late in the season had trouble finding it because supplier stockpiles had also been depleted, according to Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute, a trade group.
This year, many states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, requested bids early, Hanneman said, and salt orders grew significantly. Five states increased their orders by a total of 2 million tons over last year.
Suppliers quickly realized that at that pace, they would not have enough salt to bid on other contracts, he said.
The rising cost of gasoline and diesel compounded the situation, Hanneman said. Road salt — which, unlike table salt, is sold in large crystals — is transported by barge and truck from mines in Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. Some is shipped from as far away as Chile in South America.
State agencies that maintain interstate highways are supplied first, leaving smaller communities the hardest hit by the shortage, Hanneman said.
In Chesterton, Ind., about 135 miles northwest of Indianapolis, salt suppliers allotted the town only the 800 tons it uses in an average year — even though last year’s snowfall was double the normal amount.
“Between safety and politics, we’re going to have to salt the roads,” Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg said.
Last year, Chesterton paid Chicago-based Morton Salt $41.23 a ton for road salt. This year’s quote came in at $103.63.
Morton spokesman Joe Wojtonik said the company increased production at its mines after orders rose between 8 and 28 percent.
“We’re producing at the highest practical safe level we can,” he said.
Schnadenberg plans to conserve salt when winter begins. “I think all the communities are going to replan on how much they salt and where,” he said.
Other communities expect to use more sand or to adopt a cheaper sand-salt mixture. Neshannock Township in New Castle, Pa., plans to use a special pretreated salt mixture that isn’t as expensive as regular road salt.
Livingston County, Mich., is turning to a slurry made from sugar beet pulp mixed with salt brine that could trim 25 percent from the county’s $4 million snow-and-ice removal budget.
Still, this year’s salt shortage could pose risks for motorists, who may need to learn to drive on slippery roads or stay home.
Said Neshannock Township Supervisor John DiCola Jr.: “Some of the services we’ve been receiving … maybe we just aren’t going to be able to do that anymore.”
___
Associated Press Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
