Personal Injury Law

Terrible school bus crash kills two, injures at least 50

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

Photo by KMOV TV

A day of celebration turned into a horrific and tragic incident for students in the St. James School District who were involved in a fatal Missouri school bus accident on their way to Six Flags. Initial reports say two people have been killed, one a female student and another in a GMC pickup, and up to 50 people have sustained injuries.

The investigation is still in the very early stages, but some details have already begun to emerge. The two buses were carrying band members from John F. Hodge High School on an annual trip to Six Flags. Ahead of the buses was a Volvo tractor cab without a trailer that had slowed or stopped due to traffic caused by a construction zone. The GMC pickup collided with the back of the stopped truck. According to numerous local media sources, the driver of the first school bus, which carried all the female members of the band, was changing lanes due to a stalled vehicle and was unable to stop before hitting the pickup and truck tractor. The second bus then rear-ended the first bus, which was pushed on top of the smaller pickup.

The female student who was killed was sitting in the back of the first bus and likely sustained her fatal injuries when the second bus crashed into the first. The driver of the pickup truck was also pronounced dead at the scene.

The rest of the accident victims, including students, bus drivers and the truck driver, were treated at various local hospitals. At least one student was flown to St. Louis Children's Hospital for emergency treatment. More than 30 students were transported by charter bus to Cardinal Glennon Hospital. Others were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Washington, Creve Coeur and Fenton. Many of the injured students were fortunate to escape the wreck with relatively minor bruises and cuts and will not need to be hospitalized.

Climate Express Inc. operates the truck that was initially hit. Examining their safety profile shows the company is above average in their safety inspection ratings. The company has 118 drivers and has been involved in four injury accidents in the past two years.

Our thoughts go out to all those who were involved in this terrible accident and their families.

Officials say it could be up to two weeks before an accident reconstruction can be conducted to determine the exact sequence of events that led to this terrible accident.

From the perspective of a St. Louis personal injury attorney, there are many questions that still need to be answered. We do not know what speeds the vehicles involved were traveling at. We also don't know what caused the pickup driver to crash into the back of the Volvo truck in the initial collision. Why did not one, but two school bus drivers fail to see an accident on the road ahead in enough time to stop? How far apart were the vehicles when they were moving?

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on August 05, 2010 (boomark / email).