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An Awful History: School Bus Crashes in Kentucky



Hurt, Crosbie & May serves clients in Kentucky, including the following areas:
Cities: Lexington, Nicholasville, Georgetown, Richmond, Winchester, Louisville, Frankfort, Lawrenceburg, Cynthiana, Mt. Sterling, Versailles, Paris, Stanton, Harrodsburg, Clay City, Wilmore, Berea.

Counties: Fayette, Jessamine, Scott, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Woodford, Shelby, Anderson, Clark, Mercer, Powell, Garrard, Bourbon, Montgomery, Spencer, Estill.

The collision and plunge into a river involving a school bus near Prestonsburg, Kentucky on February 28, 1958 was the most disastrous bus accident in the history of the United States. On a cold and cloudy morning, after a period of heavy rains and thaw, a Floyd County school bus loaded with 48 elementary and high school students bound for school at Prestonsburg on U.S. Route 23 struck the rear of a wrecker truck and plunged down an embankment and into the swollen waters of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, where it was swept downstream and submerged.

Twenty-Two children escaped the bus in the first few minutes as it became fully submerged in the raging flood stage waters and made it safely out of the river. However, 26 other children and the bus driver drowned. Kentucky National Guard and other authorities and agencies responded. The bus was finally located by Navy divers, and removed from the river 55 hours later.

Over 500 Kentucky National Guardsmen were activated during the sixty-nine day search and recovery operation for the victims of this tragic incident.


Kentucky Bus Accident


Then, in 1988, almost thirty years later, disaster struck again. About 11:00 p.m. on Saturday May 14, 1988, Larry Mahoney, a drunk driver in a pickup truck traveling in the wrong direction on an interstate highway in a rural, unincorporated area of Carroll County, Kentucky collided head-on with a gasoline-powered former school bus which was in use as a church bus. The initial crash was exacerbated when the gasoline from the ruptured fuel tank of the bus ignited immediately after impact, which also blocked the front loading door. Difficulties encountered by the victims attempting to evacuate the crowded bus quickly in the smoke and darkness through the only other designated exit, the rear emergency door, resulted in the death of 27 people and injured 34 of 67 passengers. Six passengers escaped without significant injury. Mahoney sustained serious injuries. The 27 person death toll in the Prestonsburg accident is tied with the Carrollton, Kentucky bus disaster for the highest number of fatalities resulting from a bus accident.

In each of these disasters, the victims were all thought to have survived the initial collisions, but were unable to safely evacuate the school-type buses afterwards. As a result, a federal effort was initiated to seek answers regarding the Carrolton crash and the difficulty for swift evacuation of the children.

After an extensive investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB determined "the probable cause of the collision between the pickup truck and the church activity bus was the alcohol-impaired condition of the pickup truck driver who, operated his vehicle opposite to the direction of traffic flow on an interstate highway." However, it further found that "Contributing to the severity of the accident was the puncture of the bus fuel tank and ensuing fire in the bus, the partial blockage by the rear bench seats of the area leading to the rear emergency door which impeded rapid passenger egress, and the flammability of the materials in the bus seat cushions."

Most states have adopted more stringent requirements for school and church buses. Kentucky now requires all school buses to have nine emergency exits-more than any other federal or state standard. This includes front and back doors, a side door, four emergency windows and two roof exits. The bus that crashed at Carrollton had only front and back exits, and 11 rows of 39" seats, including the crucial area near the rear door.

Buses used by Kentucky schools must also have a cage around the fuel tank, a stronger frame and roof to resist crumpling on impact and rollover, high-backed seats, extra seat padding, a fuel system that slows leaks, flame-retardant seats and floors, reflective tape on all emergency exits, and strobe lights on the exterior. Schools also must have a diesel-powered fleet.




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