The National Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation into the bus accident near St. Louis Missouri last week that killed two teenagers.
The two victims were killed in a multivehicle accident involving a semi cab, a pickup truck and two school buses of the St. James School District.One of the teenagers killed in the accident was a 16-year-old girl who was part of a high school band on its way to the Six Flags amusement park in Eureka. The other was the driver of the pickup truck.
The accident occurred on a highway construction work zone.The semi had slowed down at the work zone when it was struck by the pickup truck.That set off a chain reaction collision in which the pickup truck was hit by one school bus, which in turn, was hit by a second one.
Any accident like this that involves multiple injuries deserves close and precise investigation.For now, preliminary investigations seem to suggest the role of driver inattentiveness in the deadly crash.According to the accident report, the driver of the school bus that struck the pickup truck, was being “inattentive,” and this contributed to the accident.The accident report also says that the second school bus was traveling too close to the first one.
As a Missouri auto accident lawyer, I must stress that in any accident like this, it’s important for people not to jump to conclusions about what happened.Considering that this was a chain reaction, multi vehicle collision that occurred on a highway work zone, and that it involved two school buses, it’s very important to get to the bottom of all factors involved in the crash.
School bus safety and highway work zone safety are two issues that the National Transportation Safety Board is especially interested in.The agency has for years now recommended the installation of seatbelts on all school buses.The recommendations have largely gone ignored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but it might now be time for the FMCSA to implement that recommendation.
Douglas R. Horn, as a Missouri accident injury lawyer, knows that a thorough accident investigation can make the difference between an average settlement & a recovery that fully compensate an accident victim.
Although police officers, highway patrol, and others may have performed an official investigation, it is not wise to rely solely upon these reports.The evidence gathered and analysis of a motor vehicle accident must go well beyond, especially a bus or truck.
