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SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 1999Driver Ran Sign, Police Say Cobleskill -- Girl, 7, still in critical condition after accident that cops say occurred when the school bus driver failed to stop at intersection A day after one of the Capital Region's worst school bus crashes, authorities said Friday that the 79-year-old driver failed to stop for a flashing red light at a rural Schoharie County intersection where his bus full of second-graders was broadsided by a dump truck, authorities said Friday. Seven-year-old Bianca Roman remained in critical condition at Albany Medical Center Hospital with a head injury. Joanne Jiminez, 37, a chaperone, remained in serious condition. Upgraded to fair condition were Jamel Herring, 8, and Kari Ochoa, 7, while Amanda Feliciano and Nicole Wetter, both 7, remained in fair condition. Three other students -- Cameron Mahar, 8, Lydiana Torres, 7, and Shaquea Wilson, 7 -- all were released from the hospital Friday night, Albany Med officials said. A teacher, Susan Fowler, 37, was in fair condition at St. Peter's Hospital. There were 44 students and a total of 53 people on the Thursday morning field trip to the Pumpkin Patch farm. They were just two miles from their destination but also at an intersection officials say is one the most dangerous in the region. At 10:30 a.m., William Treacy of Menands drove the full-sized bus past the flashing red light and stop sign on Route 30A and into the path of the oncoming truck traveling westbound on Route 7, police said. On impact, the bus spun around 180 degrees and ended up in a ditch. Several right-side rear seats wound up almost flush against those across the aisle. Treacy, who works for Kinnicutt Bus Inc., which owns the bus, faces a maximum fine of $100 or up to 45 days in jail if convicted of the traffic violation. He was treated for chest pains at Memorial Hospital and released on Friday and is scheduled to appear in Schoharie Town Court on Nov. 15. He did not return calls seeking comment Friday. Edward Cook, 52, of Berne, was driving the 10-wheeled dump truck west down a hill in a 55 mph zone. As he approached the flashing yellow light at the intersection, he hit his brakes and went into a skid. "It appears at this time that the truck's driver did everything he could to prevent the accident,'' Schoharie County Sheriff John Bates said Thursday. Joining local and state authorities investigating the crash were more than a dozen National Transportation Safety Board accident specialists from across the country. Robert Accetta, the NTSB investigator in charge, said it appeared that most if not all of the students were wearing lap belts. Though investigators were tight-lipped about specifics of the crash, they did speculate that seat belt use may have greatly reduced injuries for those children not sitting at the impact area. In a side-impact wreck, children not wearing the belts would be thrown around like rag dolls, said one investigator, who did not want his name used. Inside the state Department of Transportation Region 9 garage in Cobleskill where the bus was towed, the experts used cameras, magnifying glasses and other testing equipment to inspect every inch of the full-sized bus. "We have our top bio-mechanical investigative group here looking through the bus and at the hospital collecting data on all of the children's specific injuries,'' said George W. Black Jr. of Washington, an NTSB engineer. "We have an opportunity here to look at what happens inside a bus when seat belts are in use.'' Federal investigators are confident that the crash will provide invaluable information on how seat belt use affects the motions and injuries to children in a bus hit in the side by a large, fast-moving vehicle, Black said. Among the specialists was an anatomist who studies damage done to the human body. Others collected minute hair and blood samples left on windows, interior side walls or on seats. A computer specialist worked at the crash scene and will soon will be able to create a digital simulation of the accident viewed from both inside and outside the bus, Black said. Black said the crash is a particularly important one for the agency, which released a study in September concluding that it could not recommend that the federal government require seat belts in buses. Earlier studies of actual crashes have mostly involved rear or front impacts, and insufficient information is available on side impacts, Black said. Black said the safety board wants current standards, which require that children be protected by padded seats and high seat backs, which were both on the Kinnicutt bus, expanded within the next two years so children will have a better chance of remaining inside a bus during a side collision or rollover. By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
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