ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The failure of the Illinois Department of Transportation to fix a dangerous intersection was blamed Tuesday for a train-school bus accident last year that killed seven students. Investigators also cited poor bus driver training by the local school district.
A substitute driver was at the wheel of the yellow bus Oct. 25, 1995, when it stopped at a red traffic light in Fox River Grove, Ill. - the rear of the bus extending about 3 feet into the path of a train.
Moments later, a train slammed into the bus, killing seven students and injuring 24 others as well as the bus driver.
``This clearly was an accident that should not have happened and must not happen again,'' said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
After a year of investigation, the federal safety board blamed the state Transportation Department and local school officials for the tragedy.
The Illinois DOT failed to recognize and correct the short waiting area between the train tracks and the stop, the board said.
In addition, the department did not realize there was insufficient time between a green signal for vehicles to move forward at the traffic light and the arrival of a train at the crossing.
And the school district failed to identify school bus route hazards and give its drivers alternate instructions, the NTSB said.
Also contributing to the accident, the federal safety board said, was the failure of the DOT, the Illinois Commerce Commission and the railroads to have a system that ensured the coordination of railroad and highway signals.
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB