University van fleet grounded

In light of Monday’s accident, Utah State University officials decided Wednesday to ground its 50-van fleet of 15-passenger vans pending an investigation, which may result in eliminating use of the vans permanently.

“Throughout the administration, we want to make sure that everything we do is right,” said John DeVilbiss, executive director of public relations and marketing. “We want to do everything we can to ensure this never happens again.”

The fleet will be grounded for 30 days, he said, if not longer, depending on the investigation.

All university motor-pool vehicles undergo state inspections, Dave Cowley, director of Facilities Business Services, said, with the most recent inspections conducted last June.

Officials are evaluating a number of options regarding the use of these vans, DeVilbiss said. Options include eliminating the 15-passanger vans from the motor-pool completely and using the smaller vans.

There are other lower profile vehicles, such as Chevy suburbans, that are possible alternatives as well, he said.

Meanwhile, as the inspection continues, university trips can still be scheduled utilizing the smaller vans. USU has 14 mini vans at its disposal and has rented 10 additional vans and three SUVs for university use.

“It’s going to be a little more costly and might create a few more headaches, but we think it is worth it,” DeVilbiss said.

Questions about the driver’s van certification has come to light as well. However, Evan Parker, the instructor killed in Monday’s accident, held a Class-A CDL, which supersedes the 8-hour van certification course, DeVilbiss said. Although Parker had not gone through the university’s course, “He had much more training than he would have had, had he gone through the van certification course,” DeVilbiss said.

Although investigation into the accident continues, there is no question that the passengers weren’t wearing seat belts, Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Ed Michaud said. The young men are lucky to be alive, he said.

“We are eternally grateful for that,” he said. “I can say with a great deal of confidence that the seat belts weren’t used.”

After investigating, there are no indicators the passengers used seat belts, he said. The seat belts were found in their retracted positions, Michaud said, which indicates the passengers had not been using them during the time of the accident.

However, in an article in the Deseret News, parents of the surviving students claim seat belts were used by some of the passengers. Brent Nelson, Jared’s father, said his son has what appears to be a seat belt rash across his body. Robert Petersen’s father, Carl, has made similar claims.

“He has marks across his cheek diagonally and across his legs – I don’t think he put them there,” Carl Petersen said in the Deseret News article. “It just kinda bothers me that all the media is saying nobody was wearing seat belts.”

However, because all of the van’s occupants were ejected, Michaud says no seat belts were used at the time of the crash.

The accident occurred Monday afternoon when the group of 10 students and one instructor were returning to USU after a field trip. The van’s left rear tire blew out, causing the driver to lose control. The tires on the van – the Cooper Wildcat LT All Terrain model – had less than 16,000 miles on them and were installed in December of 2000.

Wildcat, which is a private label brand tire, are typically good for 50,000 miles, Aaron Walker, manager of Big O Tires, said. Tires do deteriorate and are often replaced every three to five years on personal vehicles and every six to seven years on trailers, he said.

“Truthfully, who knows [what happened?” he said. “There’s no way to second-guess that.”

-kcashton@cc.usu.edu