E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSCOVINGTON, Ga. -- A chain reaction crash Saturday involved six school buses full of children heading for a Six Flags amusement park outside Atlanta, officials said.
The 11 a.m. crash on Interstate 20 trapped the driver of one bus from Burke County Middle School in Waynesboro. After emergency crews cut her from the wreckage, Angela Anthony, 44, from Midville, Ga., was airlfited to an Atlanta-area hospital, Lt. Tyrone Oliver, Newton County Sheriff spokesman, told NBC station WXIA of Atlanta.
Sixty-one students were treated at Newton County Medical Center for minor injuries, WXIA said. All were expected to be sent home by the end of the day.
“At mile marker 98, just west of the Georgia Highway 11 exit, traffic began slowing for a lane closure about a half mile ahead,” Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “As the buses slowed, one bus struck the rear of another, setting off a chain-reaction crash. The passenger car was the last vehicle in the line and struck the rear of the sixth bus.”
A Burke County school official told The Associated Press that the children suffered nothing more than a few bruises and scrapes.
At one point, all westbound lanes and one eastbound lane were closed. They have since reopened.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Father of 30, by 11 women, wants state child support
- Marijuana grows openly in California towns, not just for medicinal purposes
- Attacks on Chicago police stations, Obama office were planned, prosecutors say
- Key witness in Trayvon Martin shooting changed story
- Texan to Obama: Forget turkey, pardon writer O. Henry!
Leave a Comment:
I bet at least one of those drivers broke in time, but the one behind him didn't, and sent him slamming into the bus in front of him anyway.
Does Georgia believe in licensing and regulation?
Maybe one did stp in time BUT, to many of these bus drivers are not in the lane they shuld be. most these busses dont g over 55 they should be in the right lane not blocking traffic in the middle or left lanes so drivers have to go around bth sides f them cutting them off and causing them t be to close to each other. Allthese bus drivers have a CDL and shuld very well know to keep a 7 seconnd following distance between them, but they try to stay one behind the other thinking they can keep cars from getting between them. They actually should try to leave even greater then 7 seconds following distance as they have a greater channce of distractions frm the students as well as the drivers that are weaving around them because they do not stay in the lane for slow vehicles. Every one of them that failed to stop inn time should be fired and not allowed to drive a bus of students for at least 5-10 years.Maybe they will then learn to pay more attention with so many young lives at stake
Check all the phones for texting or activity.
"broke" in time. You go to school in Georgia?
agree with brenton 100 percent and likely all were following like sheep crossing the highway
each who rear-ended the first or the one in front of them should be charged
Wait a minute......5 new job openings in Burke County school district.
Nah, slap on the wrist and transferred to the maintenance department.
Most bus drivers are paid next to nothing. They probably don't have a union. Unions make workers more dependable as you know.
In other news. Georgia says it will no longer hire lemmings as school bus drivers.
first of all, if you think being in a union makes you a "better" driver , your living in the twilight zone!!!!!!! secondly, all GOOD cdl drivers know whats happening at LEAST a half a mile ahead of them by paying attention to whats happening around them!!!! and yes , i am a cdl driver with 14 yrs experience, with 1,000,000+ miles AND no accidents!!!!!! hope every one is ok!!!!
If the children had access to guns and liquor, this would not have happened.
I'm not a particular fan of "the south", but..using a school bus accident as an opportunity to have your little rant against the "mental midgets" of the south is pretty damned sad. It was an accident. Those happen everywhere, even in the parts of the country where everyone is smart.
I think the driving skills of these bus drivers is horrendous, but it makes me wonder if Burke County is cutting some financial corners by not keeping up with the bus maintenance. I'll be interested to see a follow-up on the condition of the brakes on those buses.
They were all speeding, they speed in my town to..Everytime I see a school bus in fact their speeding, you would think logic would tell them you have a bus load of unprotected children I should go slower but the screaming children affect does the reverse.
I have been on the highways for 20 years as a sales/service person. You wouldn't believe the stunts these bus drivers today will pull in traffic, while they are carrying a load of our kids!
They speed. They don't stop at stop signs. They pull out in traffic at yield signs. They run traffic lights. They don't stop at railroad tracks.
And some people think this should be allowed because they "don't get paid much"?
It's supposed to be a supplimental job, not full-time employment.
If it's not enough pay, find another job and stop endangering the lives of our kids!
Road rage and self-servients have no business behind the steering wheel of a school bus.
No school buses for field trips! They're not equipped with seat belts!!!
Oh, and for both JimmyT and SamBrown.....NEITHER of you have it correct.
The "south" doesn't hold the license for dumb people and the "rest of the country" doesn't hold the license for "smart" people. There are some extremely brilliant people in the "south", and I've seen some empty-headed people in the upper and middle north, west and east coasts.
I've seen both intelligent AND mentally challenged individuals in every single state I've been in!
And the drivers are the same everywhere. There are speeding, light-running, cruel and uncaring beasts in EVERY state! And there are self-indulged people who think they are perfect in every corner of this nation...as proven by the comments above. Take a look in the mirror. I'm sure you'll recognize some of the traits you yourself have...as the ones you've crucified others for having.
Them bubbas there need some serious driving lessons!
Ok. All this ranting is missing the point. These drivers all behaved unproffesional! Every damned one! They were transporting children on a hiway! They should have been aware of their suroundings for as far as they can see in front and behind. Slamming on the brakes is never acceptable to a proffesional driver of busses or rigs! By the way I drive both. 18 years driving truck, 8 years driving bus, and I have a perfect record! These drivers should all be charged with reckless driving!
Failure to pay attention, a half-dozen cases of following too closely, and failing to stop in the assured clear distance ahead results in 62 injuries, and quite likely a bunch of expensive lawsuits too. In most States the legal following distance is anywhere from 2-4 seconds, and loaded commercial vehicles should always err toward the high side of that as their braking distance is considerably greater than that of the average passenger car. Two seconds at 60 mph is 176 feet, or about 4 school bus lengths, and 4 seconds is double that. Driving any closer than that is dangerous and illegal. Even at 2 seconds of following distance the driver must be constantly vigilant to changes in traffic speed and brake lights ahead. Commercial drivers are taught to closely monitor the next half mile ahead in order to have enough time to take evasive action and/or stop. I can see one bus getting in an accident due to unforeseen circumstances, but the other five drivers are all at fault, and quite likely out of a job too. There is never any good excuse for one bus or a commercial truck to rear-end another one.
I had a 30-year career as a commercial Class-A driver and I never rear-ended another vehicle, nor did I ever injure or kill anyone in my 4 million miles of driving trucks or cars either, but I was taught to always drive alone too. Driving in a "convoy" is always a bad idea which has ended time and again with crashes like these. Years ago in Pennsylvania on I-80 there was a similar crash that involved 7 semis, and back in the late 1990s there was another similar crash on I-40 west of Knoxville that involved 5 semis and a motorhome, both of which were caused by following too closely in heavy traffic. Years ago there was an accident on US 30 west of Gettysburg that involved several school buses following too closely too. My advice is to drive alone where you can fully observe the road and the state of traffic ahead, fully responsible for your own vehicle, and not to depend on the state of awareness of the driver of the vehicle ahead of you.
Based on the little bit of information in the story, I would be willing to bet that the busses bunched up as traffic slowed to merge due to the lane closure and some jackass decided they couldn't be bothered to merge in behind a bus and dove into the lane ahead of one then slammed on their breaks as traffic slowed further causing the accident.
I've seen jackasses in every state in the country that just have to be at the front of the line when merging for lane closures and refuse to merge behind large vehicles like busses and trucks - neither of which will stop on a dime.
Maybe all the bus drivers were at fault, maybe not. You certainly can't tell by what's in the article. I'm not got assume they were in the wrong. You can be the best driver in the world and the one thing you can't control is other people's driving.
Anyway It's good to hear no student was seriously hurt and I hope the driver that was airlifted recovers OK.
I hear a bunch of noise in here about how these buses were following too closely, but they were slowing for a road obstruction when they were hit from the rear. Unless you are holding more time between buses than there are cars on the road, the rear bus will be jammed into the one in front of him, and you will have a domino effect such as has been reported. This is doubly true if the buses were stopped or nearly so, as they would have closed up as they slowed. Also, for all the professional CDL holders mouthing off, please hold your peace until you learn the whole story. You, above all these other people, should know that there is a LOT here that has NOT been told yet.
chester
because school buses drive "convoy style" they are suppose to be taught not to be close for just that reason.
when on a road and not school property they should never be closer than 25 feet to the vehicle in front.
To the posters slamming southern drivers for NASCAR style driving. At least it's NASCAR unlike the demolition derby I have to survive when visiting up north. North or South, East or West, average to bad drivers navigating densly populated roadways invites the inevitable.
Do we know for sure these were "School Bus Drivers" and not Coaches or Teachers driving? There is a BIG difference. A lot of teachers and coaches who drive the buses don't seem to know all of the rules... even though they had to take the test same as the school bus drivers. Drivers have in-service and are reminded the rules... coaches and teachers should have to attend those with us too. While driving a school trip I had a teacher ask why I didn't speed up and I told the teacher we are allowed to drive 55 MPH on the highway and 65 MPH on the interstate. The reply was that the driver they had on another trip drove faster and mine was yeah but that was also against the law. The teacher had been with a coach or teacher who was driving the bus.
Making sure there is room between buses can be hard too... like someone mentioned. In construction zones it can be harder because cars decide to fly between buses (at semis) and then brake. That causes the bus or semi to brake and then the car tailgating can end up hitting them. I have had cars tailgating me and the only way I knew they were there was from the bottom window in the back door. I had a motorcycle that close once and I saw the shadow in my mirror behind me. I asked a student to look and yep I had a cycle in my blind spot. If I hadn't noticed his shadow I would have never known he was there.
BLUTHUNDER - We aren't supposed to drive a bus in the middle lane, but sometimes that can be the safest lane with all of the semis and cars entering from on ramps. Plus if the exit needed is on the left side it can be easier to get over from the middle lane than trying to get there from the far right lane.
CONWAYTWITTER - If you see bus drivers doing the things you say... then report them to the school system. Also, a bus doesn't have to stop at railroad tracks if they are empty... at least in Oklahoma.
We don't get paid much, but that doesn't excuse drivers from not being safe. AND for some of us it is a full time job. Try getting another job when you can't come to work until say 8:30 and then will need to leave around 2:45. These hours are for my school district and I know some would be later or earlier depending on when they start school and when school gets out. Luckily I'm able to substitute teach for extra money plus I don't really have to work... but I like driving my bus and working with the kids. Not all drivers do though... which is sad.
I'm glad that no one was seriously hurt or killed.
Many many times there is no exit on the left within 20 miles and i see them in the middle lane, here where i am there are no left hand exits and they still drive in the middle lane at 55, semi's are not alloweed in the left lane I am forced to pass them on the right, which makes it harder and more unsafe for both of us.
Here's the e-mail address for the STATE OF GEORGIA Pupil Transportation
Director, Mr. Carlton Allen: callen@doe.k12.ga.us - Every year, ALL State of
Georgia School Bus Drives are mandated to attend a SAFETY meeting hosted by
Carlton Allen.
It's sad to see that a school bus driver didn't make sure they kept a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of them. After all, they are responsible for the lives of dozens of children.
You can't avoid every accident. Sometimes people strike your vehicle. Sometimes your tire blows out. However, a bus driver running into the vehicle ahead of them is bad. The driver shouldn't be allowed to transport children ever again.
Yep. Too fast, too close. Maybe a bit of inattentive driving also.
It's often hard to keep a distance with a-holes darting and weaving through traffic. I bet a line of passenger cars waited until the end of the cones to merge back in causing eveyone to slam on the brakes.
It's usually your fault when you rear end someone. I bet it was almost unavoidable especially with old buses. No way 6 bus drivers missed the mark, something had to happen ahead. Do you wait until the end to merge and cut someone off? We all have done it, good lesson here........
Seven2Seven.....You are so so wrong about that..As you say "it's hard to keep your distance from the vehicle in front of you "with all those a-holes darting in and out of traffic"...Just my common sence would tell me to be all that more carefull..not to bunch up to keep them out and drive unsafe..Just my opinion.
Brad, I think it depends where you live. Heavy interstates are horrendous when they cut a lane down and everyone is doing at least 70MPH. We will have to see the whole story to know for sure. I just posted my opinion as others did.............
Brad - So you're saying you have never gone between two vehicles that were making sure to have the proper following distance between them? Any time you do, you are making it hard to keep the proper distance from vehicle A being followed by vehicle B.
The drivers of the busses need to loose there CDL for what happened. What were they thinking. No wait, they were not thinking. Endangering the lives of the kids. No excuse for this and what happened.
Bussssses let looooose?
Ban buss's.
JimmtT, you caught the lose/loose but not the "there" that should have been "their" in the original comments? Also, I sure hope that stonepipe didn't really think that buss's is the plural to bus.....
If it's a yellow school bus, you don't need a CDL....
Just-again my bad, insomnia, spelling and 4 in the morning evidently don't mix. Wow. spell check didn't come up either from what I don't remember.
Depending on the state, school bus drivers may not be required to have a CDL-Class C, which is a chauffeur's license; in some states, having a regular operator's license for three months with zero incidents is more than enough to get you behind the wheel of a school bus. What I've found interesting about this type of licensing is that no operation which operates its own Jitney or shuttle service will even hire you unless you have a Class C in hand when you walk in the door; Jitneys or shuttles are 15 passenger mini-buses that are typically operated by casinos, assisted living centers, airports, and the like. A fully-loaded school bus carries around 54 people, so I'd say something is clearly missing in some states in terms of who gets behind the wheel of a school bus and how they end up there.
If it's a yellow school bus you most certainly DO need a CDL. In Florida, it's different than the full CDL an over the road truck driver needs but it's a CDL nonetheless. I have a friend that drives a school bus and I hold a full CDL - we've talked.
Yeah, let's put them all on welfare. Everyone should be able to sit home and collect a check. Just hope they all have families to support so the taxpayers can send them a really big check.
CDL is most assuredly required, usually for a straight truck rather than a semi, but with endorsements a semi driver will even have to pass. It takes a special endorsement to transport any number of persons over fourteen and the driver, and another if said persons happen to be children. Then you get into the standard air brake endorsements and such, but those are pretty much standardized.
In Oklahoma we are tested about air brakes. We have to have the passenger and school bus endorsements on our CDLs. What doesn't make sense is when testing to become a bus driver the test will have questions about big rigs.
This is so inexcusable it is beyond belief. That SIX professionally trained drivers would have a collision means that not ONE of them was following a safe enough distance from the other. Not one.
As a former school bus driver, I cannot even explain how an accident like this can happen among professionals. Drivers are required to keep a safe cushion in front AND in back. And if a driver behind is following too closely, then you make up the cusion by dropping back from the vehicle you're following so you're able to monitor the driver behind you in case there's a sudden slowdown ahead.
Every single one of them should be fired, and the entire bus company or school district should shut down the routes until all drivers receive supplemental re-training and re-certification. Our children are the most valuable cargo any human being can be entrusted to transport. They cannot be allowed to be put in harms way like that, anywhere.
It's worth a Googletube visit :
In about 1965 a Lg. Metro Area bough 40-some BMW Motorcycles for their police force...
At the 4th of July Parade in front of the Mayor they managed to drop the entire fleet
and this was not only at the hands of professionals
they were ARMED & trained to write traffic tickets & kill..
humans make errors, we're the only ones that do
because we are the only ones that need to assign blame .
JimmyT-5986858 banned, flameout, smearing a bunch of states, attacking fellow Viners.
there may have been some faulty taillights also
Well, i bet the odds are none of them got a ticket for ACD, except maybe the last car that hit the last bus.
LOL, I'll drink to that
Why do all of these things seem to happen so often in the South and in Red States? No association with intelligence I'm sure.
Not sure about the accidents, but regarding political issues, you're right !! Vote what the preacher says...who pays NO taxes and wants what's part of yours that is taxed. sigh....If they only truly knew it's not all about abortion and guns..Rolling my eyes...
What a gross generalization. Why do people like you feel so compelled to bring politics into every comment thread? Give it a rest! BTW I'm more Blue than Red and from the north.
William, I wrote something really bad and deleted it so I don't go to the woodshed again..............
I'm glad no one was seriously injured. While it may have been a pain having traffic backed up it could have been so much worse.
Very few drivers seem to pay attention to following distance. Daily we all see freeway traffic going 60-80 mph pretty much bumper to bumper. I don't care how lightening fast you think your reflexes are, it is not humanly or mechanically possible to react fast enough to avoid a serious problem in front of you. Any accident can (and does) turn into a life threatening pile up in these circumstances.
But computers could follow within inches and be far safer than any human behind the wheel. Just get the government out of the picture and tomorrow is here today.
@william
You're an idiot
I live in Atlanta and this isn't that far from me. In Atlanta drivers hate merging and frequently speed up to avoid letting you merge. As someone wrote there was probably someone darting in and out of traffic thinking if they get ahead of one more car somehow they will magically get where they are going a half hour sooner. It doesn't excuse the following buses. Let just be happy all the kids are all right and hope the one driver has a quick recovery.
I often drive around/through Atlanta on 75 and it IS one of the most terrifying trips on an EWay one can make. It's every man for himself at breakneck speeds.
Shame on these school bus drivers. They were all tailgating.
The safe following rule is: 1 second following distance for every 10 feet of vehicle length up to 40 MPH, over that add 1 second for each additional 10 MPH. (State if Arizona)
As the vehicle in front of you goes past a tree, sign, a shadow on the road, under bridge, start counting: one one-thousand, two- one thousand, and so on before your front bumper passes your chosen object.
The fastest way to get into a traffic accident is to tailgate no matter what kind of vehicle you are driving.
right shame on the school bus drivers. They were tailgating? apparently you haven't been on a busy highway where they let you know there will be a lane closure like 1/2 mile away. People will not let busses or trucks merge in front of them.
were they too close together. Probably. The drivers were probably not only looking into the side mirrors, but their rearview mirror too. .Put that into the equation with kids that are excited for the field trip.
But what kind of surprised me..is you would think someone in the school administration or the bus company would have found out what kind of road conditions there were and perhaps take a alternate route.
Glad the kids were okay though..
Great post s-148. Drove bus for about 1 1/2 years you pegged it. You put it kindly when saying excited kids.
School bus drivers in my local area , drive and behave like a bunch of nascar teams , packed up blasting down the local roads and highways , too close together , and driving like they were late for a fire. fly thru corners , and heaven forbid you are in front of them , cut you off or push you down the road , and most are required a B license . I am in the NorthEast
Your mom drives a bus?
Naw, JimmyT has been talking about him/herself throughout the whole thread. I'm sure even his/her mother is ashamed of him/her.
What a sad life. No common sense. No self worth. No happiness. And let me guess...northerner? (since he/she condemns everybody that lives below the Mason-Dixon line.)
How many times has it been said that it's better to keep ones mouth shut and be thought an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt? JimmyT must not know that saying...hence the fact that he/she has removed all doubt with every post he/she has made thus far.
Georgia, worst state to live in. By weeks end they will have some new stupid law to "stop" this..somehow... Better drivers is just too simple of a solution for them...Sadly
I'm wondering if a breathalyzer was used to test drivers
Buses in my state are required to all follow the same route set by the lead driver. In order to follow that rule, the bus drivers must be able to see one another. Because drivers of passenger vehicles on the interstate frequently dart in and out of lanes between buses, the drivers try their best to keep close enough to stop that from happening so that they can follow their leader. How about we, the other drivers, help them out and stop getting between buses? Anyone who has driven on an interstate ANYWHERE knows that if you try to leave a safe distance between you and the car ahead, another car will jump in front of you and decrease that distance, no matter what speed you're driving. Also, we don't know what caused the initial crash, so let's stop assuming the driver was texting or napping or juggling beer bottles until we hear some evidence. I'm a teacher and I know kids are loud, distracting, and unpredictable no matter what precautions you take, especially on a bus.
I agree with everything you said except...
Since buses are sit higher than most vehicles that are doing the darting, there is no reason to get closer. Most buses also have CB radios so they can communicate between each other while traveling. My boss tries to make sure everyone knows where we are going in case we do get separated.
Put the inexperienced drivers in the middle and tell them to stay close so no one can get between them but far enough behind to stay out of my behind. This is and has been a policy for many years. It is actually safer because people don't want to get caught in-between them and creates fewer blind spots for the bus driver. When was the last time you saw 2 or more school buses more than a 1/4 mile apart, on the same hwy?
a CDL only means that someone passed a test - the bus drivers get a "professional" pass from other city & state officers (like running reds, stop signs, following to close, etc.) In VA we have a few red light cameras but government employees get a free pass on them too, since the government owns the vehicle.
Whoa! What happened to you to cause such hatred for the Southen States? I hope whatever it was you will seek help with it because it seems that it has hurt you badly. I have lived it all four corners of America and I am here to say that there is proverty, discrimination and bigotry in all of them.
The traffic around Hotlanta can be a Madhouse! I have been around it several times and saw some bad fatalities. The Power of a Car can transform people into Nuts!
They get in that car and it just transforms them!
Crazy Man!
JimmyT.....Not one of your posts gave me an indication that you had an ounce of forgiveness or love for your fellow humans. If your attitude toward the people in your neighborhood is anything like the attitude you have displayed in this forum, I feel confident that there are several of your neighbors who would be happy to give you a hand in packing and moving! This was a terrible accident....nothing more! As a parent, I can relate to the fear that those people had until they found that their children were not severely injured. Are there people who drive while talking, texting, or are otherwise distracted? YES---but it is NOT limited to Southern states. And, to my knowledge, there has not been a reason given for the accident. You sound like a petty child----"everybody is blah, blah, blah". It is very immature to put every citizen of any state in a box and determine the mentality and educational levels of those people by the actions of a few.....come on....grow up!
And I thought Colorado drivers were bad. Hope the kids are OK.
so nobody made it to six fags?
I was on the bus! I was attempting to get some asian pooty tang when it happened!! I almost killed the driver with my bare hands!
I can't believe how many on here cannot spell!! THIS is what our educational system is coming to? YIKES! (Glad the kids are all ok! Minor scrapes and bruises, they are VERY lucky!)
I know!!! It simply awful!! And did you know that most of them are uneducated liberals.
A couple of days ago they once again LOWERED test score standards in Florida schools as enough students couldn't pass. There's the answer!
Also, along our highways often are billboards with the state tooting it's horn about the billions that go into education here from the state lottery. Yeah, it sure shows doesn't it? Never has been an accounting on those monies. BILLIONS? Like McDonalds? What a joke. Dumb and dumber.
We lived in Ga for 11years and I can tell you they drive like nut's! School buses speeding down our street's in our subdivision, but do you want to know what's worse?
The van driving cellphone talking MOM'S with a van load of kids speeding down the street's! When you have and are driving children around, paying attention to the road and traffic should be first priority, not the next play date or hair appointment, or what another MOM had on on at the last PTA meeting.
This was an accident, and the buses should have a bigger space in between them as the law requires, but we live in a fast paced world, and we all need to slow down when we are driving in heavy traffic, and watch out for the idiot's, because they get to drive too!
I don't know about the distance between the buses but ...if it's 1 car length for every 10mph and you are doing 55mph that's 5.5 car lengths. If it was the same for the buses that would be 5.5 bus lengths between them. Learning to keep distance between vehicles can and does save lives, as does paying attention to what is going on around you while you are driving.
Let's just be thankful that nobody was killed.
All of the drivers of those buses were responsible for the buses and the children on them, and should pay for their errors.