School Bus/Dump Truck Collision-I-80 Near Mount Olive,New Jersey

That article is badly written.

Not your fault. You find good ones usually.

However when a article omits several situations and generates even more questions than it solves it's not very good or useful.

 

Looks like one of the vehicles was making an illegal U-turn. Both vehicles smashed in the front end.

 

####, that bus body came right off the chassis.
Looks like firewall, steering column and dash stayed with the chassis.
Basically came apart in the same way it was built.

 

This wasn't too far from me, local news station is talking about it. At the moment two confirmed deaths. I know one of the kids was receiving CPR immediately after the crash. Sounds like kids were ejected from the bus. I80 is completely shut down at 206 in Mt. Olive. Very sad situation.

Update: 2 confirmed deaths, a teacher and student. 40+ hospitalized.

 

School bus has been sheared from its frame. My guess is the school bus driver is new and tried a U turn @ a emergency vehicles only.

 

School buses are generally non survivable when hit hard enough big enough as this one was. Lovesthedrive's guess crystallized the situation overall for me mentally. I'll go along with a illegal use of emergency median passage for a U Turn etc.

I hold School Bus drivers to a pretty high standard, if that was the situation then what a tragic waste.

I have been in crashes before in school buses and have actually been ejected from two twice when little. This would be back in the 60's when there is nothing like what they have today.

 

School buses are designed to shear from the chassis in hard impacts. It is to help absorb the energy of the crash. The bus performed exactly as designed, look at how well preserved the general shape of the passenger compartment is.

New Jersey does not require seat belts on school buses, some states do. As a former school bus driver and instructor (back in the early 90's) there has been much debate regarding this. Crash tests and accident investigations have shown that more often the kids are safer without seat belts, except in the rare case of a rollover crash where ejection is likely.

It is very sad that at least two people have died, 1 student and 1 teacher but it could have been much worse if they were on a regular coach bus that is not designed with child sized riders in mind. This is close to me, my aunt drives school bus in Mt. Olive, first thought was to check on her, it was not their school district.