Chain-reaction collision with bus carrying A&T students killed three family members

The recent chain-reaction crash involving a bus carrying N.C. A&T students took the lives of three family members, police have disclosed.

The wreck took place on Friday, Nov. 11, on Interstate 85 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. It happened when a log truck and a Toyota Tundra pickup truck were slowing for traffic while driving in the left lane through a work zone.

The bus hit the back of the pickup and wedged it underneath the rear of the log truck. The people killed were a husband, age 40, his wife, 25, and the husband’s father, 66, all from Fountain Inn, South Carolina. The wife’s sister, age 27, was pulled out of the crushed truck. She was seriously injured and airlifted to a hospital in Richmond, but has since been released.

Typical charter bus similar to the one involved in the crash that killed three family members.

^{Photo by Paul Sullivan, the Holy Hand Grenade! photostream}

The driver of the Coach America chartered bus, Malverse L. Vanloan of Greensboro, North Carolina, was charged with reckless driving. She also was seriously injured and hospitalized.

Vanloan, 56, was charged with reckless driving. The case is still under investigation to determine whether further charges will be filed.

The chartered bus was carrying 49 students and a chaperone to an engineering conference in Baltimore. Four students and the log truck driver were examined by EMTs at the scene.

Traffic fatalities are always tragic events, but it’s an especially heart-breaking blow when several family members are killed. It’s hard to imagine the grief this family has had to endure and will continue to endure.

The causes of rear-end crashes vary. Often it is inattentiveness of the following driver, or distractions such as cell phone use or other activities that take attention away from the road ahead. Excessive speed is often to blame. And following too closely is a major factor in many crashes, as is described in a book by Egerton Law founding partner Lawrence Egerton.

The cause of this crash is unclear from news reports so far. With three deaths resulting, it would seem likely that further charges are forthcoming.

Dinwiddie County, Virginia, where the deadly crash occurred on Interstate 85.