SCHOOL BUS CRASH
REPORTS 2004
Child struck, killed by school bus
November 9, 2004
Five-year-old Noah Barnes died Tuesday after falling down in
front of his school bus.
Branson — Grief hung like a veil over Branson's Cedar Ridge
School on Wednesday as word spread about the death of a 5-year-old
kindergarten student hit by a school bus.
About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Noah Barnes got off the bus in the
Spring Meadows subdivision just east of Branson. According to the Missouri
Highway Patrol, Noah fell down in front of the bus and was run over. The
child was taken by ambulance to Skaggs Community Health Center and then
airlifted to Cox South hospital in Springfield where he was pronounced dead
at 4:45 p.m.
Noah's family declined to comment Wednesday.
Patrol investigators were at the school Wednesday,
interviewing several children who were potential witnesses to the accident,
said Superintendent Doug Hayter. The bus carried only elementary students.
Until the investigation is completed, bus driver Victor
Fischer, 53, of Kirbyville is on paid leave and will undergo drug and
alcohol testing, Hayter said. Fischer has been driving for the district
since last December. He could not be reached for comment.
State regulations require pupils to cross at least 10 feet in
front of the bus. The Missouri School Bus Operator's Permit Procedure Manual
says: "The driver should not put the bus in motion until the last pupil off
of the bus is at least 10 feet away from the bus."
Hayter said he knew of no complaints that had been received
about Fischer. Such complaints would be investigated by the district's
director of transportation and could ultimately be brought before the school
board, Hayter said.
In the subdivision, neighbors said they have worried about
the dozen or so children who ride the bus each day.
The unmarked bus stop is on a hill on a narrow
county-maintained street that has no posted speed limit. The stop is about
four blocks from Noah's home. Cars turning off Missouri 76 often "just fly
through here," said Michael Flood who moved to the subdivision from
Wilmington, Ill., about three months ago.
"It's a death trap," Flood said. "I knew something was going
to happen someday, but I thought it would be a car hitting someone, not the
bus."
Although his 5-year-old son, Cole, also rides the bus, Flood
said he wasn't aware of the accident until Wednesday.
When the children get off the bus, "they wander all over the
street," said Kelly Lamborn, who lives across the street from the bus stop.
She's lived there since 1986, and her daughter Christine, now a junior at
Branson High School, rode the bus until she recently got her driver's
license.
"With little kids, there's no way to be too careful," said
Lamborn's father, Jim Margrave.
Taney County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Pennel said
commissioners would consider looking into conditions on Spring Meadows
Parkway.
He said he doesn't remember complaints of speeders on that
street.
"We do get complaints on different roads, and we have put up
some signs and the sheriff also has patrolled some of those," Pennel said.
At Branson schools, teachers were alerted early Wednesday
with counselors on hand to spend time with students, Hayter said. Counselors
also were on the bus that carried Noah, he said.
The district has 268 kindergarten students. About 2,400
children — 70 percent of the school's enrollment — ride the buses.
Hayter said he doesn't remember any other such accident in
the school district.
"The state has strict standards and training for drivers, and
rules for conduct are posted on the buses," Hayter said. "Something like
this creates heightened awareness, but I think we have everything in place
for the safety of our students."
By Kathryn
Buckstaff
NOTE FROM: Arthur L. Yeager, DMD, MMH
Once again, and in line with the profile that most school bus fatalities are
very young children, on the way home from school and killed by being run
over by their own school bus.
Notice also that everyone is concerned with other vehicles when the danger
was not from passing or speeding cars but from the school bus itself. This
is manifest in legislation that ever increases the penalties for passing a
stopped school bus but does not address the responsible bus drivers for
their error and school districts for failing to properly educate, establish
safer bus routes and loading and unloading areas, monitor and control the
most vulnerable K-3 children on procedures for getting on and off the bus.
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Crash Reports 2004
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