Multiple school bus crash in Missouri

[hemigeno]

The accident this morning involving 2 school busses on Interstate 44 in Missouri happened about 2 miles away from the church I attend, and about 7-8 miles from my house.  Pretty horrific accident scene, although it appears that most of the kids made it out without serious injuries.  It was a local school district's band students on their way to spend the day at Six Flags as a reward for finishing up Band Camp.

Apparently the semitractor had to slow down for an upcoming construction zone (still about 1mi down the road), and the SUV that you can hardly see underneath the school bus was sandwiched between the first school bus and the tractor.  That second bus then plowed into the back of the first bus.  So far, two confirmed fatalities - although no word if both were in the SUV.

Pictures are from http://www.kmov.com , more about the story here.

[Khyron]

ekk, hope the kids where alright

[PocketThunder]

The busses around here are back to the long nose style instead of the flat front style, probably to protect the driver in a crash.  I hope none of the kids were killed, that would be the worst thing to ever happen to a parent.

[Ponch ®]

Look at where the driver's seat area of the second bus is . That can't be good for the driver..

[Shakey]

Nasty!

I was at a test facility years ago where they plowed a Volvo SUV into the side of a school bus.  I was told that the safest seat on a school bus is the driver's seat.   

[lisiecki1]

sad.  I'm pretty sure the 2 fatalities are people from the suv.  I don't see how anything could live through that, it's looks like it's been through a car crusher.

[tan top]

oh no  thats a big wreck , sad sight !!

[hemigeno]

The latest local news update states that 1 of the fatalities was the driver of the GMC pickup truck (not an SUV as they earlier reported).  The second was one of the high school students sitting near the back of the first bus.  The whole incident is tragic for everyone involved, especially for the parents.

According to an interview given by the first bus driver, there was a vehicle sitting on the side of the road which prompted her to briefly move into the left lane to give the parked vehicle additional room.  The bus driver was in the process of checking her mirrors to pull back into the right lane - and had actually pulled back into the right lane - when she realized that traffic had stopped in front of her and did not have time to stop.  According to other witnesses, the pickup truck and the semi-tractor were actually involved in a separate accident (the pickup had rear-ended the tractor) right before the bus made contact, and both were stopped in the road.

Sad deal, for sure.

[moparstuart]

    that is just terrible

[Todd Wilson]

Nasty!

I was at a test facility years ago where they plowed a Volvo SUV into the side of a school bus.  I was told that the safest seat on a school bus is the driver's seat.   

Thats cuz its the only one with a seatbelt!


Seen this on the news and it looked to be a bad deal.


Todd

[bull]

Wow, that GMC is seriously wadded up. I'm guessing the fatality on the bus was sitting in the right rear.

[Tilar]

Man that is a bad wreck. 

Nasty!

I was at a test facility years ago where they plowed a Volvo SUV into the side of a school bus.  I was told that the safest seat on a school bus is the driver's seat.   

Thats cuz its the only one with a seatbelt!

Todd

Actually that's not totally true. The driver of the second bus is lucky to be alive. I work on these school busses and am a sub driver. In all the training we go through, they claim that front end collisions in a snub nosed school bus like these are, the driver only has a 20% chance of surviving it because he is right at the accident.  Even without seat belts for the children school busses are safer than any other vehicle on the road.

The problem with seat belts on a school bus is if there were a wreck with a fire situation, The chances of getting all the small children unbuckled and off the bus before they burn up is slim at best.

[hemigeno]

Link to a press conference at the scene which explains what happened:

http://www.fox2now.com/videobeta/055a5121-91d9-44eb-a0be-bbc34aa90041/Entertainment/Two-Killed-In-School-Bis-Crash-News-Conference


More pictures - and the last one is of a replacement bus sent to retrieve the students that was itself involved in an accident... that bus struck a building! 

[Tilar]

Looks like Copeland Bus Service needs some better trained drivers.

[bull]

I have to wonder how much warning they had regarding the road construction. Sounds like the Volvo driver had to stop pretty abruptly and I don't see any orange diamonds out there, not that you see that far down the road in those pics.

[Ponch ®]

Link to a press conference at the scene which explains what happened:

http://www.fox2now.com/videobeta/055a5121-91d9-44eb-a0be-bbc34aa90041/Entertainment/Two-Killed-In-School-Bis-Crash-News-Conference


More pictures - and the last one is of a replacement bus sent to retrieve the students that was itself involved in an accident... that bus struck a building! 

Holy Shit..


: :

[hemigeno]

Curtis, you're right about the lack of warning in one sense, but how far back do the warning signs need to be - and would people pay attention to them even if the signs were erected?  I go through that section of interstate quite regularly, and over the past 3-4 months there are often backups from the current road construction which begins at least a mile further down from where this accident occurred.  From what I heard, the section of road where the lane restrictions actually began today (two lanes down to one) was much closer to Pacific - nearly 4 miles away from this accident scene.  Why traffic was stopped all the way back this far, I don't know.  It could be that the "Merge Right" signs/lights were situated long before the merge barrels, as I have seen them do this, ostensibly for "safety" reasons.  If that's what the situation was and people merged long before they needed to causing an unneccessary backup, perhaps that strategy backfired?

There was a road rage incident nearly at that very same spot yesterday, where a tractor-trailer was blocking both lanes to keep cars from zipping by in the lane that would soon be merging.  A guy in a Toyota 4-Runner got into a shouting match with the truck driver to the point someone called it into the Highway Patrol and the police scanner my secretary has at her desk picked up the report.  I witnessed a similar incident myself (minus the shouting match, although the guys were still communicating in sign language) maybe a half-mile further down between two pickups a few weeks ago.  

We'll all be glad when this section of road construction is finished, but there are some families whose lives will not be the same as a result.

[RD]

terrible.... just terrible for all involved.

[bull]

Curtis, you're right about the lack of warning in one sense, but how far back do the warning signs need to be - and would people pay attention to them even if the signs were erected?  I go through that section of interstate quite regularly, and over the past 3-4 months there are often backups from the current road construction which begins at least a mile further down from where this accident occurred.  From what I heard, the section of road where the lane restrictions actually began today (two lanes down to one) was much closer to Pacific - nearly 4 miles away from this accident scene.  Why traffic was stopped all the way back this far, I don't know.  It could be that the "Merge Right" signs/lights were situated long before the merge barrels, as I have seen them do this, ostensibly for "safety" reasons.  If that's what the situation was and people merged long before they needed to causing an unneccessary backup, perhaps that strategy backfired?

I don't know what the state rules dictate but I imagine it depends on the type of roadway. This being a freeway with a speed limit of 70 mph I would think there would need to be warnings much earlier than on a two lane road with a 45 or 55 mph speed limit. I assume there's laws that dictate these things but I just don't know. Still, be that as it may, drivers should always be very alert, especially school bus drivers. One road sign I often see that kind of cracks me up is the "Be Prepared to Stop" sign prior to a road construction site, and I always wonder when it's ok to not be prepared to stop when driving. One would think that as soon as you leave the driveway you should be prepared to stop no matter what road you're on.

[mauve66]

Curtis, you're right about the lack of warning in one sense, but how far back do the warning signs need to be - and would people pay attention to them even if the signs were erected?  I go through that section of interstate quite regularly, and over the past 3-4 months there are often backups from the current road construction which begins at least a mile further down from where this accident occurred.  From what I heard, the section of road where the lane restrictions actually began today (two lanes down to one) was much closer to Pacific - nearly 4 miles away from this accident scene.  Why traffic was stopped all the way back this far, I don't know.  It could be that the "Merge Right" signs/lights were situated long before the merge barrels, as I have seen them do this, ostensibly for "safety" reasons.  If that's what the situation was and people merged long before they needed to causing an unneccessary backup, perhaps that strategy backfired?

I don't know what the state rules dictate but I imagine it depends on the type of roadway. This being a freeway with a speed limit of 70 mph I would think there would need to be warnings much earlier than on a two lane road with a 45 or 55 mph speed limit. I assume there's laws that dictate these things but I just don't know. Still, be that as it may, drivers should always be very alert, especially school bus drivers. One road sign I often see that kind of cracks me up is the "Be Prepared to Stop" sign prior to a road construction site, and I always wonder when it's ok to not be prepared to stop when driving. One would think that as soon as you leave the driveway you should be prepared to stop no matter what road you're on.

i knew i would find something we both agree on