An engineer’s report to the Bradford Area School District
indicates corrosion and poor quality material on a U-Bolt were the
reasons an axle fell off a moving school bus in December.

The report describes what Superintendent Sandra Romanowski
reported to The Era on Jan. 31 in a more detailed, technical
version and confirms her report there was no sabotage to the axle
as previously rumored.

On Dec. 4, the school bus was carrying 36 children when the axle
fell off. Two children were injured and taken to Bradford Regional
Medical Center following the incident on Bolivar Drive. The
children were students from both School and George G. Blaisdell
elementary schools.

One child had a bruised ankle and the other a broken ankle,
officials said.

The report, in letter form, is addressed to David Bizzak of
Romualdi, Davidson & Associates Inc., a workman’s compensation
group. District Business Manager Kathy Kelly said that group, along
with Laidlaw Transportation Management Systems, went to RJ Lee
Group Inc., to put together the report.

“Specifically, the failure was a single-event brittle fracture
that initiated at either a small corrosion pit or a fatigue crack,”
reads the report.

The letter explains “the fracture surface was examined optically
and by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy
techniques.”

It continues that a small rust thumbnail was seen and appears to
be the fracture initiation site.

“The failure appears to have been a single event brittle
fracture originating at the rusty thumbnail,” the report
states.

“Except for the small thumbnail rust region associated with a
corrosion pit that may be a small fatigue crack and was the
initiation site, the fracture propagated as a single-event, brittle
cleavage fracture.”

The investigation revealed the failure was due to the conjoint
interaction of a small corrosion pit or fatigue crack with a
material that exhibited inadequate toughness for the
application.

“… The failure appears to be the result of low material
toughness and corrosion.”