1988 fatal traffic collision
The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky. The collision involved a former school bus in use by a church youth group and a pickup truck driven by an alcohol-impaired driver. The head-on collision was the deadliest incident involving drunk driving and the third-deadliest bus crash in U.S. history. Of the 67 people on the bus (counting the driver), there were 27 fatalities in the crash, the same number as the 1958 Prestonsburg bus disaster, and behind the 1976 Yuba City bus disaster (29) and 1963 Chualar bus crash (32).
In the aftermath of the disaster, several family members of victims became active leaders of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and one—Karolyn Nunnallee—became national president of the organization. The standards for both operation and equipment for school buses and similar buses were improved in Kentucky and many other states. These include an increased number of emergency exits, higher standards for structural integrity, and the use of less volatile diesel fuel. On Interstate 71, the crash site is marked with a highway sign erected by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Memorial items such as crosses and flower arrangements are regularly placed at the site by families and friends.
Background.
On May 14, 1988, a youth group mostly consisting of teenagers who attended North Hardin High School, James T. Alton Middle School, Radcliff Middle School and four adults from Assembly of God church in Radcliff, Kentucky, boarded their church bus and headed to Kings Island theme park in Mason, Ohio, about from Radcliff. The group included church members and their invited guests. As everyone arrived early that Saturday morning, the number of those wanting to go on the trip had grown to more than originally anticipated. The church's principal pastor, who did not join the trip, restricted the ridership to the legal limit of 66 persons plus the driver.
Bus.
The bus involved in the crash was a former school bus, configured with a bus body mated to a medium-duty truck chassis and frame. The 1977 model-year Ford B700 chassis was mated to a Superior school bus body. The vehicle was designed with a capacity of 66 passengers and a driver, including 11 rows of 39-inch wide seats, separated by a 12-inch central aisle.
Ford Motor Company manufactured the B700 chassis at its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky; it was then shipped to Superior Coach Company of Lima, Ohio. A company owned by industrial conglomerate Sheller-Globe Corporation, Superior manufactured the school bus body that was installed on the Ford B700 chassis. The vehicle was certified as a "school bus" with an effective build date of March 23, 1977, the date associated with the construction of the Ford chassis (as required by federal regulations).
Both the vehicle type and the build date would later serve as important legal distinctions. The bus was manufactured on March 23, 1977, just nine days before four major federal safety standards were to take effect for school bus production. In addition to upgraded rollover protection, school buses produced on or after April 1, 1977, were required to be designed with improved structural integrity in body joints, better seating protection in crashes, and improved fuel system protection (to reduce spills and fires).
The completed bus was delivered in time for use during the 1977–78 school year, and served ten years in use as a school bus. Radcliff Assembly of God acquired the used school bus as surplus from the Meade County school district, and it had been owned by the church for about one year as a church bus. In July 1987, the church successfully made the same round trip with the bus to Kings Island. Along with short local moves on school days, the church also drove the bus successfully on several other long trips. It was maintained regularly by mechanically inclined church members, including a civilian motor pool supervisor from nearby Fort Knox. A week before the 1988 Kings Island trip, the bus received two new tires of a good commercial quality; the front-end suspension and steering components were also examined at that time. The 11-year old vehicle was considered to be in good mechanical condition on May 14, 1988.
Trip.
On the trip, the bus was driven by John Pearman, a part-time associate pastor of the church who was a local court clerk. The group left the church early that morning and traveled uneventfully to the park. They spent the whole day and early evening at Kings Island, then boarded the bus and began traveling out of Ohio and back into Northern Kentucky toward Radcliff. After about an hour, they stopped to fill the 60-gallon (227-litre) fuel tank with gasoline, then resumed the trip southward.
Collision.
At 10:55 p.m., while heading south on Interstate 71 outside of Carrollton, Kentucky, the bus collided almost head-on with a black 1987 Toyota pickup truck which was traveling at high speed the wrong way (north in the southbound lanes) on a curved stretch of the highway. The small truck was driven by Larry Wayne Mahoney, a 34-year-old factory worker who was intoxicated. Mahoney later admitted he had been drinking in a bar and at a friend's house prior to the collision. Police also found a twelve-pack of Miller Lite beer in Mahoney's truck which was still cold and had several cans missing.
During the collision, the left rear of the pickup truck spun 90 degrees to the right and, while doing so, struck the left side of a 1977 Cadillac Sedan de Ville heading in the same direction of the bus causing damage to the back driver's door and vinyl roof. The car had broken glass along with red plastic material that was from the taillight lens of the Toyota. The right front of the pickup truck struck the right front of the bus, breaking off the bus' suspension and driving the leaf spring backward into the gas tank mounted behind an exterior panel but outside the heavier frame, just behind the step well for the front door. The front door was jammed shut by collision damage.
Both vehicle drivers sustained injuries, but nobody aboard the bus was seriously injured by the actual collision between the two vehicles. However, the right front suspension of the Ford chassis broke off through the bus stepwell, puncturing the gasoline tank and igniting the fuel supply. When fire first broke out immediately after the collision, bus driver John Pearman tried to put it out with a small fire extinguisher while passengers began to evacuate through the center rear emergency door, squeezing through the narrow opening between the two rear seats and jumping to the ground.
A survivor recounted the short timeframe of events: "We knew we hit something, and…all the kids got up in the aisle thinking we were gonna get off. And within 20 second you felt the heat come in the bus. You started hearing kids crying and screaming for their mom, panicking. That's when everybody started pushing on everybody to go one way." Another remembered startling awake after the collision and attempting to escape through a window but it refused to open, before rushing to the back.
Survivors said after emptying the small fire extinguisher, Pearman helped some of the many children find their way down the narrow and dark aisle to the only practical way out of the smoke-filled bus. According to the NTSB investigation, more than 60 people trying to reach the rear emergency door—the only available exit—created a crush of bodies in the 12-inch-wide aisle. Many passengers found themselves unable to move. A beverage cooler which had been earlier placed in the aisle near row 10 (of 11 rows of seats) aggravated the crush.
Other passengers tried unsuccessfully to break or kick out any of the split-sash side windows. Only one adult, a woman who was of small stature, managed to escape through a opening side window. When she looked back up from the ground, the window opening was filled with flames. The other three adults aboard died, including Pearman. Passersby and some of the escaped passengers helped to extract immobilized children through the rear door, and help them to ground level about below. A survivor recounted how when he reached the back door; "Someone on the outside grabbed my arm, put their foot on the bumper and literally pulled me out. I hit the asphalt and started running... I could hear the screams and the explosions."
Within four minutes, the entire bus was on fire, and soon the exodus of passengers stopped. At that point, the passersby who had stopped to help could not reach those still aboard due to the raging fire, and turned their efforts to tending to the crowd of 40 mostly injured survivors. Soon the entire interior of the bus flashed over, ultimately burning the trapped 27 people remaining aboard.
After first responders treated and transported survivors and extinguished the fire, a crane was used to load the bus onto a flatbed truck that transported the bus and those persons killed to the National Guard Armory in Carrollton. There, the Kentucky State Police and the Carroll County coroner went through the interior of the bus seat by seat to find and remove bodies, most of which were burned beyond recognition.
Victims.
In total, 26 passengers and the bus driver died, 34 passengers were injured, and six passengers escaped the bus without serious injury. Larry Mahoney, the driver of the Toyota pickup, sustained injuries from the collision. The deceased children ranged in age from 10 to 19 years old, with a majority aged between 13 and 14 years old.
Many bodies were found facing the only exit, the rear door. The coroner later determined that none of the bus occupants suffered broken bones or mortal injuries from the crash impact; all had died from the fire and smoke. The victims are as follows:
Among the bus survivors, one person's leg from just below the knee had to be amputated, and about ten others suffered disfiguring burns. Only 6 bus passengers were uninjured and virtually all suffered varying degrees of emotional trauma and survivor guilt syndrome.
Investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board responded, conducted an investigation and issued a report on March 28, 1989.
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The NTSB determined that "the probable cause of the collision between the pickup truck and the church activity bus was the alcohol-impaired condition of the pickup truck driver who operated his vehicle opposite to the direction of traffic flow on an interstate highway." The agency also found that the design of the 11-year-old bus also contributed to the fatalities. The bus's fuel tank was unprotected, seat covers were made of flammable material, and the rear exit was partially blocked by a row of seats. Following the NTSB report, and much sooner in many instances, many federal, state, and local agencies and bus manufacturers changed regulations, vehicle features, and operating practices.
The board recommended the phaseout of buses not meeting the federal standards established in 1977. The standards required all new school buses to have stronger fuel tanks, stronger seats and more accessible emergency exits. At the time the report was issued, about 22% of school buses in use nationwide were built before the standards were in place. The board also recommended stricter punishments for drunk driving.
Legal.
There was considerable civil litigation. Ford Motor Company, Sheller-Globe Corporation, and others eventually contributed to settlements with all victims and/or their families.
Truck driver.
Mahoney had been previously arrested for driving under the influence in 1984, for which he was fined US$300 and his driver's license was suspended for six months. His blood alcohol concentration (BAC) two hours after the crash was .24 percent—substantially more than the 1988 Kentucky legal limit of .10. Mahoney had no memory of the crash and learned of the collision after waking in the hospital the next day.
Mahoney was indicted by a Carroll County grand jury July 23, 1988, on 27 counts of murder. He pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $270,000, $10,000 for each death in the crash. The Carroll County Commonwealth's Attorney initially planned to seek indictments for capital murder which would have made Mahoney eligible for a possible sentence of death by electrocution if convicted. Ultimately, however, it was decided not to file those charges. Mahoney posted bail and was released from jail in October 1988. On December 21, 1989, Mahoney was found guilty of all charges. He was