NTSB Investigates Accident Involving a Truck-Tractor, a Pick-up, and Two School Buses Transporting 54 Passengers 

 

On August 5, 2010, the NTSB launched a go-team to investigate a highway accident involving two school buses in Gray Summit, Missouri. Peter Kotowski, Investigator-in-Charge, led the team that included: Vice Chairman Christopher Hart; Board Member Earl Weener; Harkey Mayo, Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman; Dave Rayburn, Highway Factors; Dennis Collins, Human Performance Factors; Jim LeBerte, Motor Carrier Operations, Jennifer Morrison and Dan Filiatrault, Vehicle Factors; Chris Voeglie, Recorders; Ron Kaminski, Survival Factors; Rafael Marshall, Project Manager; Max Green and Elias Kontanis, Transportation Disaster Assistance; Terry Williams, Public Affairs; and John Whitener, IT Support.   

 

Earlier that day, a truck-tractor operated by a 43‑year‑old driver was traveling eastbound in the right lane of Interstate 44 when a pickup truck operated by a 19‑year-old driver struck the rear of the truck-tractor as it was moving slowly in a construction zone.

 

A Bluebird 71-passenger school bus, occupied by the 75-year-old driver and 23 passengers, was also traveling eastbound in the right lane of I-44 in front of another Bluebird 72‑passenger school bus operated by the 38-year-old driver transporting 31 passengers. After moving into the left lane and back to the right lane, the lead school bus struck the rear of the pickup truck. The left front of the second school bus then struck the right rear of the lead bus. This collision pushed the pickup forward, and it overturned onto the frame rail of the truck-tractor. The lead bus came to rest on top of the pickup truck and the truck-tractor. The second bus remained engaged with the lead bus.

 As a result of the accident, the driver of the pickup truck and one passenger from the lead school bus were killed. Thirty-five school bus passengers, the two school bus drivers, and the driver of the truck-tractor received injuries ranging from minor to serious.

 The NTSB team was on-scene for 9 days.