SCHOOL BUS CRASH
REPORTS 2007
Special Needs School Bus Crashes
in East Austin, Texas
October 3, 2007
| Some frightening moments this morning
after a car collides with a special needs school bus. It happened
about eight this morning at the intersection of 51st Street and
Springdale Road.
Police say a car veered into oncoming
traffic, hitting the bus and causing it to overturn.
Police say the driver of a car was
going east bound on 51st Street when she veered into the west bound
lanes of traffic hitting the bus. All three people on board the bus
were wearing their seat belts which may have helped prevent serious
injury. |
 |
When buses leave the Austin
Independent Schoold District bus barn every morning, the drivers
don't expect to get into an accident. However, Wednesday morning,
the unexpected happened.
"They didn't tell me what happened.
They just said that Chris was in an accident," said Tashawn
Stallion. Her 13-year-old son Chris was riding on a special needs
school bus when a car crashed into the bus.
"We didn't even get a chance to sit
down before the phone call, so we had just put him on the bus," said
Latha Veavers, the teen's father.
"We've got conflicting stories on why
the driver of the car claimed there was another vehicle that was
moving over into her, however the investigation is still ongoing,"
said Matt Conley, a detective for the Austin Police Department.
After the crash, the bus hit this
tree, then flipped onto its side.
"It really kind of scared us because
with his condition, he can't really talk, he can only do sign
language, so if anything was wrong with him, he couldn't tell
anyone," said Stallion.
Police say the teen was not injured.
The driver of the bus and the teen's aide were treated for only
minor injuries. Austin ISD says all three were wearing their lap
belts.
"This is the type of accident that
the seat belt probably does the most good when the bus turns over on
the side," said Joe Perez, the transportation director for Austin
ISD.
Special needs school buses have
always had lap belt, but earlier this year, the state legislature
passed a bill that will require all school buses to have three point
seat belts, or shoulder belts within the next few years.
"If there's a frontal collision, then
you stay in your seat. Your whole body stays in -- your top,
everything stays in the seat," said Perez.
Perez believes shoulder belts will
help protect passengers if students are wearing their belts.
Although special needs students are required to wear seat belts,
they'll remain optional for most students.
All new buses brought after 2010 will
be required to have shoulder belts. The entire fleet will have to be
retrofitted by the year 2014.
By ERIN OCHOA
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