The National Transportation Safety Board released their findings today from the investigation into the October 30th, 2018 fatal school bus stop crash in Fulton County that killed three siblings and injured a fourth.
The NTSB report determined that the crash was caused by 25-year old Alyssa Shepherd’s failure to stop for the bus while it’s warning lights and stop arm was out.
In addition to that, the board also contributed cause of the crash to the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation, saying “inadequate safety assessment of school bus routes, resulting in the prevalence of bus stops that required students to cross high-speed roadways to board a bus.”
The report also added in that there was no clear policy established by TVSC for school bus drivers to follow in determining when it would be safe to signal students to cross a roadway to board their bus.
The NTSB issued two safety recommendations to Tippecanoe Valley, addressing safety issues including deficiencies in establishing safe school bus routes, failure of other drivers to stop or respond safely when approaching a stopped school bus and a need for greater use of technologies to prevent collisions and mitigate injuries.
TVSC Superintendent Blaine Conley issued a statement, saying:
“This has been a very difficult process for our school family and community as we have coped with the devastating loss of three elementary students and a critically injured middle school student. Our thoughts continue to be with everyone involved.
TVSC has implemented a transportation safety review committee who meets regularly. This committee includes Fulton County Sheriff Christopher Sailors, Kosciusko County Sheriff Kyle Dukes along with other committee members which include school transportation officials, highway officials, bus drivers and representation of the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation Board of School Trustees.”
You can read the full news release from the NTSB here.
