Nebraska Bus Accident Lawyers

Better School Bus Driver Training, Evacuation Drills Urged for Students

A school bus tragedy in Nebraska that left three students and one adult chaperon dead should be a wake up call for all school transportation officials, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warns. “The tragedy clearly points out that school officials must vigilantly focus on safety,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman-Conners said. As a result of the accident, the NTSB is urging school transportation officials to make sure students receive pre-trip safety briefings for activity trips, participate in regular bus evacuation drills, are shown how to open emergency roof hatches on buses that have them, and make sure drivers are trained on unfamiliar buses they may be asked to drive. “School buses are strong and sturdy and built to lessen the impact of crashes, but drivers, students, and school officials must be an integral part of the safety equation,” Engleman-Conners said.

The crash occurred on Saturday, October 13, 2001, about 2 p.m. A model year 2000 Thomas Built, 78-passenger school bus carrying 27 students and 3 adult chaperons from Seward High School was traveling home from a band competition in Omaha through what the NTSB called a “poorly designed” highway–bridge construction work zone on U.S. Route 6 in Omaha. As the Seward bus entered the narrow work zone lane shift at the approach to a bridge over a creek, it encountered a 1986 Motor Coach Industries 52-passenger motorcoach, traveling in the opposite direction and carrying students from Norfolk High School to the same band competition. No collision occurred, but the bus carrying the Seward students struck a barrier on the right as it passed the motorcoach, steered to the left and then steered abruptly back to the right, striking the barrier again and a three-rail barrier between a guardrail and a concrete bridge railing.

The bus passed through the remains of the three-rail barrier, rode up onto the bridge’s sidewall, and rolled 270 degrees clockwise as it fell about 49 feet, landing on its left side in a creek below the bridge. In addition to the fatalities, the remaining passengers and the bus driver sustained injuries ranging from serious to minor. The NTSB said the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the Nebraska Department of Roads to recognize and correct the hazardous condition in the work zone created by the irregular geometry of the roadway, the narrow lane widths, and the speed limit. Contributing to the accident, the NTSB said, was the accident bus driver’s inability to maintain the bus within the lane due to the perceived or actual threat of a frontal collision with the approaching eastbound motorcoach and the accident bus driver’s unfamiliarity with the accident vehicle.

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