After the crash — 05/15/08

May 13, 2008 03:43 pm

— Twenty years ago today — May 14, 1988 — a bus carrying a church group home from a day at King’s Island was struck by a drunken driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton resulting in the deaths of 27 passengers on the bus, still the deadliest alcohol-related highway catastrophe in U.S. history.
However, as we reflect back on tragedy, it is important to remember that from it came positive changes that have made the highways safer for all of us, particularly those who travel on school buses.
As a direct result of the Carollton bus crash, members of the Kentucky General Assembly — and legislators in states throughout the nation — enacted tough new legislation governing those who drive while intoxicated. The new laws included higher fines and mandatory jail time for those convicted of drunken driving and barred judges from reducing drunken driving charges to reckless driving, which was once common for first-time offenders.
It also helped lead to the enactment of a law that at first dictated that those registering a blood alcohol level of .10 on the breathalyzer were presumed to be intoxicated. That since has been lowered to .08.
Largely as a result of these changes, the number of accidents involving drunken drivers has declined dramatically and groups of people out for a night of drinking routinely select a “designated driver” who remains sober. We’re not saying the highways are free of drunken drivers — some continue to drive when intoxicated even if their license has been suspended — but the offense of drunken driving is taken far more seriously today than it was before the bus accident.
Larry Mahoney, the intoxicated driver who struck the church bus, served 91/2 years in prison and was released in 1999. He now lives quietly in northern Kentucky.
However, while Mahoney caused the accident, it was design flaws with the converted school bus that led to most, if not all, of the deaths. No one on the bus, except for possibly the driver, was killed as a result of the impact with Mahoney’s truck. In fact, most were not even seriously injured.
Instead, it was the lack of emergency exits on the bus that led to most of the deaths. The bus exploded into flames as the passengers were exiting the rear door of the bus, the only exit not damaged by the crash.
Because of that, tough new safety standards were added for school buses. The bus’s fuel tank was punctured by the crash, causing the fuel to ignite. Now all buses built since 1989 are required to have their fuel tanks protected by a safety cage.
In addition, all new buses now are required to have side emergency exists, flame-retardant seats, and push-out windows. In fact, Kentucky requirements exceed federal standards. Had such safety improvements existed on the bus involved in the Carrollton crash, it is possible that no lives would have been lost.
It should not have required a horrible tragedy to make the changes that came out of the Carrollton bus crash, but because of those changes, the chances of a similar accident happening again have been greatly reduced.