I stayed up late last night to watch the 11 o'clock news on several T.V. stations to get the most up to date information on the tragic school bus crash in Mount Olive yesterday morning. NBC News was reporting the cause of the accident might have been the school bus driver attempting to make an illegal u-turn across a section of the median reserved for emergency vehicles only. What we know is the bus driver missed the exit for Waterloo Village. Which was where the field trip was going. NBC is reporting NJ Transportation Department cameras show the u-turn attempt taking place. One other possible reason for the bus driver going in the U turn lane might have been a mechanical problem. However, the official investigation is still going on and there has been no official confirmation of a cause for the crash.
This is really a difficult situation to imagine. Every driver knows how dangerous it is to make a u-turn on route 80. School bus drivers are trained not to take any chances to protect the lives of their young passengers. A heavy dump truck with a full load traveling at 60 miles per hour would have been impossible to stop in time. It would be shocking to think a school bus driver could be so careless.
We found out yesterday a 51 year old teacher and one student were killed in the crash. Last night several 11 o'clock news reports said another student was in critical condition and had to be placed in a medically induced coma. All we can do is let the investigators do their job. It will take time. Another thing we can do is pray our hearts out for the seriously injured child who is clinging to life.
Sources: NBC and CBS News. NJ.com
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