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Exercise two

(2006-11-21 13:20:22) 下一個

Fourth teen dies in Alabama school bus crash

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (CNN) -- A fourth teenage girl died Tuesday at a hospital from injuries sustained when a school bus plunged off a highway overpass Monday in Alabama, Huntsville Police Chief Rex Reynolds said.

She was identified as Crystal Renee McCrary, 17. The three others killed were Christine Collier, 18; Nicole Ford, 17; and Tanesha Hill, age unknown. Collier and Ford both died at the scene Monday, while Hill died hours later at Huntsville Hospital.

Fourteen students and the bus driver remain hospitalized, including at least three in critical condition.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are on the scene trying to determine what caused the accident.

The bus, carrying 40 students from Huntsville's Lee High School, fell 30 feet to the street below an overpass on Interstate 565 and landed on its front end before flipping over.

The bus driver was either ejected or escaped from the vehicle before it fell, NTSB investigator Debbie Hersman said Tuesday. He was found on the overpass by rescue workers, she said.

The initial investigation indicated that a small sedan driven by a fellow high school student veered into the bus' lane, causing the bus to drag along the concrete barrier for more than 100 feet before plunging off the interstate overpass.

Police have interviewed the 17-year-old driver of the orange 1990 Toyota Celica as well as the bus driver.

They planned to interview the bus driver again on Tuesday, Huntsville police spokesman Wendell Johnson said.

According to Hersman, the teen driver told police something went wrong with the Celica that caused it to drift into the bus' lane. The NTSB is investigating whether the car struck the bus.

The car had two flat tires after the accident, although it was unclear when they went flat and what role that might have played.

Photos of the car on the overpass showed damage to the driver's side door and the front passenger side.

Police have not decided whether the teen driver will be charged.

"Huntsville has never seen an accident like this involving students," said Johnson, the police spokesman.

Debate over whether school buses need seat belts

Johnson noted that the bus was not equipped with passenger seat belts or air bags.

"The students, when they were hurled over the side of I-565 ... they were just tossed around inside the school bus," he said.

While most school buses do not have safety belts for students, Hersman stressed that the vehicles are "inherently very safe" and "do very well in most accidents."

"We have generally seen less than 10 children a year killed in accidents on school buses, but one of the issues that have come up is whether there should be restraints," the NTSB investigator said at a news conference Monday in Huntsville.

There are no federal requirements, but some states have demanded that any new school buses purchased by state governments must be equipped with safety belts.

Hersman said the NTSB has not made a decision on whether it supports requiring safety restraints on school buses.

However, the board has been pushing the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to carry out tests to determine if safety belts should be among a set of performance standards set by the federal government.

Currently there are no national performance standards for school buses.

In addition to determining the cause of Monday's fatal school bus accident, Hersman said the NTSB will be looking at whether it could have any effect on school bus safety regulations.

"Certainly this accident is a tragedy, and we wish that we were not here, but we will do everything that we can to make sure if there is any safety improvement that can come out of this accident," she said. "That is our purpose."

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Guoluke2 回複 悄悄話 第四個孩子在阿拉巴馬校車事故中喪身

Huntsville, 阿拉巴馬 --Huntsville警方負責人Rex Reynolds說第四個孩子(是個女孩)星期二在醫院因為在星期一阿拉巴馬校車從高架橋的公路上栽下(的事故)中受傷不治而亡。

她被證實是17歲的Crystal Renee McCrarry. 其他三名死者是18歲的Christine Collier, 17歲的Nicloe Ford, and 年紀不詳的Tanesha Hill. Collier 和Ford 在現場就已經死去,而Hill是後來在Huntsville醫院死去的。

14個學生和校車司機仍然待在醫院,其中包括至少三人情況危急。

國家交通安全委員會在現場試圖找出事故的原因。

這輛載著40名亨茨維爾高中學生的校車,從州際高速565號的一個高架橋上跌落30英尺,落到下麵的街道上。車子在翻轉之前車頭著地。

國家交通安全委員會的調查人員說,校車司機在車子墜落之前或者是被彈了出來或是從裏麵逃了出來。她說司機被救援人員在高架橋上找到。

最初的調查表明一輛由也是一個高中生開著的小轎車駛入了校車的線道,使得校車沿著混凝土欄杆向前開了100尺,然後掉下了州際公路高架橋。

警察已經訊問了那輛橙色的1990豐田Celica的17歲司機和校車的司機。

亨茨維爾警方發言人Wendel Johnson說他們計劃星期二再次訊問校車司機。

按Hersman的說法,那名十幾歲的司機告訴警察說他那輛Celica發生了故障因而駛入了校車的線道。國家交通安全委員會正在調查小車是不是撞到了校車。

小車在事故後兩個癟胎,盡管還不清楚它們是什麽時候癟的和在事故中起了什麽作用。

小車在高架橋上的照片顯示小車的駕駛員一側的門和前麵乘客一側有損傷。

警察還沒有決定是否將起訴這名十幾歲的駕駛員。

“亨茨維爾還沒有過象這樣卷入學生的事故,”警察發言人強森說。

辯論校車是否需要安全帶

強森發現校車沒有配備乘客安全帶和氣囊。

“當學生們被從565高速一側甩出來時,他們在校車裏被顛來顛去,”他說。

雖然大多數的校車都沒有為學生裝安全帶,強森強調說校車“本身非常安全”,而且“在大多數的事故中都表現非常好。”

“我們通常隻看到不到10個孩子每年在校車事故中喪身,但是浮現的問題之一是到底需不需要安全帶,” 國家交通安全委員會的調查人員星期一在亨茨維爾的一個記者招待會上說。

聯邦沒有要求,但是有一些州要求州政府新購買的校車必須配備安全帶。

Hersman說國家交通安全委員會還沒有就是否支持安全帶要求做出決定。

但是,委員會已經要求國家高速公路交通安全署進行測試看安全帶是不是應該被聯邦政府列為(汽車安全)表現係列標準之一。

現在還沒有校車的國家(汽車安全)表現標準。

除了決定星期一惡性校車事故的原因外,Hersman說國家交通安全委員會將檢查這起事故是不是會對校車安全規則有影響。

“毫無疑問這起事故是一個悲劇,而且我們當然希望我們不在這裏,但是我們將盡一切努力來查找是不是這次事故可以帶來(今後)安全的提升,”她說。“這是我們的目的。”
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