A school bus crash last caused the death of two students. Two other students and the bus driver were seriously injured.
The bus plunged from Loop 610 in southeast Houston near Telephone Road after the driver of a Buick LaSabre went into the lane occupied by the bus in an effort to avoid another vehicle that was drifting into her lane, according to a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department. The bus driver apparently overcorrected and hit the guardrail, falling onto the roadway below. The crash occurred near Telephone Road. Apparently, no one on the road below was injured.
Who is to blame? The driver who drifted into the lane, the driver of the Buick, the school bus driver, or someone else? According to the Houston Police Department, no one has been charged.
The Buick driver was a teacher in the Houston Independent School District.
The two students killed were 14 and 17 years old. One died at the scene of the accident and the other in a hospital. The other two students, twin brother and sister, were hospitalized with serious injuries. The bus driver was also hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
The last incident involving a student death in a Houston bus accident occurred in 2008, seven years ago, according to one news story quoting state data. Between 2003 and 20012, 55 school age children in the United States died in crashes while traveling in school-provided transportation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
About 950 buses transport 34,000 students each day in the Houston Independent School District. According to the American School Bus Council, 26,000,000 million children ride school buses every day in te United States, around half of all children attending school.
The 2008 bus involved the most recent accident was inspected this past July and was equipped with seat belts. The driver had recently completed mandatory driver safety training and had a clean record. She had been driving since 2013. The NHTSA, the Houston Police Department and the HISD are investigating. No one involved in the crash has been charged.