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Jeff Roberson / AP
Rescue personnel work at the scene of the accident involving two school buses, a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck on Aug. 5, 2010, near Gray Summit, Mo.
WASHINGTON -- A 19-year-old driver was texting just before his pickup truck, two school buses and a tractor truck crashed in a deadly pileup on an interstate highway in Missouri last year, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.
Two people — the pickup driver and a 15-year-old student on one of the buses — were killed and 38 others were injured in the Aug. 5, 2010, accident on the interstate highway near Gray Summit, Mo. Nearly 50 students, mostly members of a high school band from St. James, Mo., were on the buses heading to the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park.
The chain of rear end collisions began when the pickup truck rammed the back of the tractor truck, the board said. The pickup was then rear-ended by a school bus, which was in turn struck by the second bus.
The board is scheduled to meet Tuesday to hear the results of an investigation into the accident and to make safety recommendations. The meeting will focus on the "distractive effects of portable electronic devices when used by drivers," the board said in a statement.
The board has previously recommended bans on texting and cell phone use by commercial drivers, but has stopped short of calling for a ban on the use of the devices by adults behind the wheel of passenger cars.
The problem of texting while driving is getting worse despite a rush by states to ban the practice, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week. In November, Pennsylvania became the 35th state to forbid texting while driving.
About two out of 10 drivers overall — and half of American drivers between 21 and 24 — say they've thumbed messages or emailed from the driver's seat, according to a survey of over 6,000 drivers by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
And what's more, many drivers don't think it's dangerous when they do it — only when others do, the survey found.
Study: Tougher teen driving laws save lives, money
At any given moment last year on America's streets and highways, nearly one in every 100 car drivers was texting, emailing, surfing the Web or otherwise using a hand-held electronic device, the safety administration said. And those activities spiked 50 percent in over the previous year.
The agency takes an annual snapshot of drivers' behavior behind the wheel by staking out intersections to count people using cellphones and other devices, as well as other distracting behavior.
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Leave a Comment:
Bless Everyone involved in the crash...
Except for the texter.
Texting & driving is MUCH worse then drinking & driving.
When will MADD get involved with this new epidemic?
They have already had enough bad press with some of their chapter presidents getting popped for DUI, I imagine they text and drive as much as anyone else.
They have already had enough bad press with some of their chapter presidents getting popped for DUI, I imagine they text and drive as much as anyone else.
Why no identity or photo of the 19 year old ADULT who caused this accident????? I want to see the face of this murderer.
This very sad when people get hurt by car acccidents! It is idiottizen for people to texet and drive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's why we should ban cars. That way if you get into an accident while texting, most likely the only person getting injured will be the idiot texting and not anyone else.
Unfortunately two people died in this incident. My condolences to the familes and friends of the deceased.
I feel little sympathy for the texting teen, his own actions brought about his demise. Not intentionally of course, just stupidity on a young teens part. Unfortunately, his stupidity and lack of judgement caused the death of another teen totally uninvolved and with no say in the actions of another willing to place himself and everyone around him in danger.
However, and this cannot be shouted loud enough. BOTH school bus drivers were at fault also. Granted they didn't cause the initial accident, but as one rearended the initial accident vehicles and then the trailing bus rearended the front bus, they were following WAY too close to each other and the vehicles in front. They did NOT leave enough stopping or maneuver room. Had they not been tailgating, it's entirely possible that neither teen would have died, at the minimum, one would NOT have died.
Some will call me heartless, but I'm being realistic. The bus drivers were too close to the leading vehicles to be considered safe. There is no other way to say it. And before you ask, yes, I have driven school buses, and tractor trailers. It is a mistake both drivers will need to live with and justify to themselves and possibly the authorities.
XDm9mm - I read the article, then read it again to see if I had missed something, and came to the same conclusion you came to.
Had the school buses been driven properly, The whole story would have been about how a texting driver was killed after ramming into the back of a truck.
For that matter, the story might have been about how a texting driver was INJURED, for that might have been what happened if the school bus hadn't then ran into his vehicle!
Any fool knows you shouldn't use a phone while driving. I would love someone to argue it's not stupid and reckless. Im just waiting for the day when two idiots are chatting on the cell phone and run into each other head on...hahaha
I really agree with many people that if they texting= dead =(!!! I wish we made a law to not do texting while driving!!!
Valentina - along with a law that required school bus drivers to maintain a safe distance between themselves and vehicles in front of them!
oh ok i get your point!
A law banning texting/talking on a phone while driving wouldn't solve anything. Don't we already have laws prohibiting driving after drinking? Those laws work very well, no?
If applied properly, most, if not all, states have laws against DWD (driving while distracted) that could be used to cite and fine this very sizable minority of idiots behind the wheel.
If there were a way to ensure that ONLY the fools are injured/killed, I would encourage the gadget addicts to continue being stupid. Their numbers would quickly decrease as they kill themselves with their stupidity, with a bit of luck, natural selection would result in humans that are smarter about their survival.
Valentina -- there are laws on the books in 35 states now banning texting/cell phone use while driving. Problem is, they're not enforced!
Where I live -- it's illegal here -- honestly, every other driver has either got their cell phone at their ear (they're supposed to use a hands-free device here) or they're looking intently down in their lap, not at the road. At every traffic light, you have to wait for the person first in line to quit playing with their gadgets and realize the light is now green and they should be moving forward.
What makes that even more frightening, is they think THEY'RE perfectly safe drivers -- it's the other people that are the problem. As they veer from one lane to other, cut off other drivers or run into them because they didn't see them stop or slow down.
If I can see them driving and talking or texting, the cops should be able to see them too. But they don't do anything about it.
The reason it isn't enforced is because the laws were enacted to be enforceable only as secondary offenses. That means that a driver cannot get pulled over simply for texting while driving or in the case of my state, using a handheld device, unless they are doing something else wrong that would normally cause them to be cited; ie, speeding, DUI etc. Until it becomes a primary offense on its own, people will continue to thumb their noses at the law.
What is the big deal about texting in the first place??? And what is so difficult about pulling off the road if you have to text something or even call someone while you are driving??? I would guess that at least 50% of all the blabbering (both texting and talking) on cell phones in this world is totally unnecssary!!! I'm not saying texting and talking don't have a place in our society, I'm just saying I don't get the thing about doing it while you are driving!!!
50%, I'd say more like 75-80%. But yes, stuff should be able to wait until, at the very least, no body else is around you on the road with a super long straight stretch. If it is too important to wait, there is always a shoulder like you said.
It is NEVER safe to text while driving. That attitude goes hand-in-hand with the hypocritical mindset mentioned in the article. Most people think it is dangerous for other people to text/talk on the phone while driving, but it is OK for them; because THEY are capable of doing it safely...
I will admit, I am guilty of having texted and drived. After some calls that were too close for comfort, it has ceased. I honestly can't believe how much more relaxed I am behind the wheel knowing that its just me driving, and not even worrying about what a text says. If someone really needs to get a hold of me, it is called a phone call and a human voice on speaker.
You were very lucky. I'm glad you at least learned your lesson before anyone got hurt.
only way to stop it is:
finder bender 5 yrs in prison.
injured persons 15 yrs for each injured person in prison (2 people=30 yrs)
deaths 25yrs for each death.
with that kind of a law maybe i wont meet people driving on the wrong side of the road, which has happened to me more than once.
I even see motorcyclists texting and riding - no hands on the handle bars YIKES.
Now, that is REALLY scary. It takes more concentration to safely operate a motorcycle, especially in urban traffic. In addition to the 'normal' hazards, the rider has to constantly look for idiots in cars that 'Didn't see the motorcycle" before running it over or turning right inn front of it. Well, these fools will kill themselves rather quickly, a motorcyclist has very little protection from impact or crushing...
And just how closely was everyone following each other?! Obviously not a legally safe distance to allow for the unexpected. Learnable moment besides not to text and drive?
The texter is faulted? OK, he rear-ended a Truck...but in looking at the picture, the bus located on top of the texter's vehicle AND the truck he rear-ended caused the fatalities. Had the buses been following at a safe distance and paying attention....
Fault the teen who lost his life? No...his error was followed by not just ONE but TWO buses.
The texting teen started the reaction. Had he been paying attention to his driving instead of texting, the incident probably wouldn't have occurred. Yes, the bus drivers were also at fault due to their following distance, or lack thereof.
I understand the texting teen was at fault for running into the back of the semi, but without the buses plowing into and on top of him...would there have been fatalities?
Ya gotta love those moron texting idiots heh? it is unbelievable that these people are so STUPID and SELFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you really want to stop this distracted driving, ENFORCE the laws! Start pulling over the self-absorbed idiots who can't live without a cellphone stuck to their ear and give out hefty tickets - like $100 or $150 per incident. Points on your license for every offense after the first one, and suspended licenses for a third offense. Maybe then the morons will get the message.