Student Killed After School Bus, Flatbed Truck Crash in Indiana

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A school bus crash involving a flatbed truck left at least one student dead and more injured in Argos, Indiana, on Dec. 5.

WTHR reported that the crash took place at 9:15 a.m. on U.S. Route 31 and 13th Road.

The age or name of the student who was killed was not released by police.

A student was flown from the crash via an air ambulance to a nearby hospital, the report said.

About 39 students from East Pulaski Community Schools were on the bus when it was involved in the accident.

The bus was slowing down or stopping at a railroad track, which is required by law, when the truck hit it from behind. According to insurance firm AAA, “Passenger vehicles, buses carrying passengers, motortrucks carrying employees, school buses, and vehicles carrying flammable material must stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest railroad tracks before proceeding, unless directed to do otherwise by a traffic signal or traffic officer.”

“Here in this area we’ve had just tragic, tragic stories here of late involving school buses and it’s heartbreaking. We just need to pay attention, we need to be cautious, and uh, so this doesn’t happen,” said Sergeant Ted Bohner with the Indiana State Police.

U.S. 31 was shut down for a period of time. Other details about the incident are not clear.

Argos is approximately 30 miles south of South Bend, located in northern Indiana.

The students were headed a field trip, police told ABC News.

School Bus Accidents

Last month, there was a rash of accidents at school bus stops, leaving several children dead across the United States.

The spate of school bus accidents started in Indiana on Oct. 30, when a driver failed to recognize a school bus’s flashing lights and hit four children who were crossing the street in Rochester to board a bus. The 24-year-old female driver was charged with three counts of reckless homicide following the incident. All three siblings died.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a recent report (pdf), there were 1,172 school-transportation-related fatal motor vehicle crashes between 2006 and 2015.

“From 2006 to 2015, 102 school-age pedestrians (18 and younger) have died in school-transportation-related crashes. Sixty-one percent were struck by school buses, 3 percent by vehicles functioning as school buses, and 36 percent by other vehicles (passenger cars, light trucks and vans, large trucks, and motorcycles, etc.) involved in the crashes,” the report said.

Traffic Deaths Down Across US in 2018

U.S. traffic deaths fell 3.1 percent in the first six months of 2018, according to preliminary figures released in October 2018, Reuters reported.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 2017 traffic deaths fell by 1.8 percent to 37,133 after traffic deaths rose sharply in the previous two years, according to final figures.

The U.S. traffic fatality rate fell to 1.08 deaths per 100 million miles traveled for the first half of 2018.

The fatality rate in 2017 was 1.16 million deaths per 100 million miles traveled—the second highest rate since 2008.

“This is good news and bad news,” said Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council, CNBC reported. “The total number of fatalities is not getting worse, but the situation is not getting better.”

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