NTSB investigate deadly school bus accident

GRAY SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) -- National Transportation Safety Board investigators examining the Missouri crash that killed a 15-year-old school bus passenger and the teen driver of a pickup truck are hopeful they'll learn something that can make school buses and road work zones safer, an NTSB official said Friday.

NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher Hart said "people, vehicles and the environment" at the crash scene will be evaluated by the team of 14 investigators, though a final report could take up to 18 months.

The accident happened Thursday on Interstate 44, about 40 miles from St. Louis. A semi cab slowed for road construction and was struck by a GMC pickup. Two buses carrying high school band students to Six Flags St. Louis from central Missouri then slammed into that wreck.

The accident killed 15-year-old Jessica Brinker, seated in the back seat of the first bus; and the pickup driver, 19-year-old Daniel Schatz of Sullivan.

Fifty-one students were treated for mostly minor injuries, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol reort. Two girls remained hospitalized Friday, one in serious condition. Details of the other girl's condition were not released. Both bus drivers and the semi cab driver were also hurt.

In its initial report, the patrol said the 75-year-old driver of the first bus was "inattentive," and the 38-year-old driver of the second was "following too closely."

Franklin County prosecutor Bob Parks said he won't decide on charges until he gets the final patrol report, which could take up to six weeks.

Among other issues, the NTSB will examine whether seat belts on the bus could have helped. Hart said investigators will also consider the possible benefits of accident-avoidance technology that would warn drivers about impending slowdowns and perhaps even automatically apply brakes.

Summer is a busy time for road construction, and wrecks are common in work zones.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is doing work on 250 bridges this year and improving 5,600 miles of roadway, according to its website. Despite education efforts, signage, stricter penalties and fines for construction area violations, accidents continue to happen.

Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration showed that 720 people died in highway work zones across the country in 2008, including 18 in Missouri.

"We certainly think distraction plays a huge factor," said Brad Sant, a vice president for the trade group that represents road construction workers, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. "In a work zone, the road is going to change. If drivers are not paying attention, or if they're frustrated or weaving around barrels, accidents are going to happen."

Missouri does not require that its school buses have seat belts; only a handful of states do. The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services advocates shoulder harness belts for all school buses, though executive director Bob Riley said buses are by far the safest way to transport children.

He cited a 2002 study showing that about 800 children and teenagers die every year on their way to or from school, but only 6-8 typically die on school buses. The others are in private cars or die while walking or biking.

Riley said it would cost about an extra $8,000 to $10,000 per bus to have seat belts, and old buses cannot be retrofitted because of seat design.

School buses are built with tall, padded seatbacks so that if a student is knocked forward, the injury risk is fairly minimal, Riley said.

"The weakness is in side or rollover collisions," Riley said.

It isn't yet clear if a belt would have saved Brinker, who was sitting near where the second bus hit hers, the Highway Patrol said.

Her death sent the town of St. James into mourning. Several people turned out Thursday night for a prayer vigil, and another memorial service was scheduled for Friday.

Joy Tucker, the superintendent of the St. James school system, said it was a "horrible, horrible day" for the community of 3,700.

"She was the most funniest girl to be around! always rockin the knee high sock .... we love you Jessica R.I.P.," read a posting on Brinker's Facebook page.

Schatz was a former all-state high school quarterback who made the University of Missouri team as a walk-on in 2009. He left Missouri and hoped to play alongside his older brother at Westminster College this fall, said his father, Dave Schatz, who won the Republican primary for a Missouri House seat on Tuesday.

Daniel Schatz was driving to his family's contracting business when the accident occurred. Dave Schatz described his son as "a great kid."

The accident site was a horrific scene, with Schatz's mangled pickup barely recognizable in the tangled wreckage. The first of the buses vaulted over the pickup, crushing it, and landed atop the semi cab, the bus coming to a rest at a 45-degree, its front some 20 feet in the air.

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Associated Press writers Jim Suhr and Christopher Leonard in St. Louis, Chris Blank in Jefferson City, and Heather Hollingsworth, Dana Fields and Bill Draper in Kansas City contributed to this report.