Bless that nurse who immediately tried to help. I know it's what's expected of medical professionals but I still found it admirable that she dropped everything and used whatever was at her disposal.
I got chills when it mentioned her witnessing the crash. As a child of first responders, I could just see her jumping up from a seat and running toward the scene with her training and education already in gear.
69 mph through a crossing seems like too fast. Why was the speed limit for the train so high at a crossing? I assume the engineer was required to go so fast.
@@MikeJones-rk1un there’s no speed limit for trains at crossings the speed limit for this line in fact is 90mph. He would probably have to be going around 25mph to be able to stop
@@MikeJones-rk1un It still would have been significant due to the mass of the train. But railroads have multiple crossings especially this line. If we limit the whole line to slow speeds you defeat the purpose of a railroad
In the 1960s school buses used to stop on one side of the street and if kids lived on the other side they would have to cross, even if it was a highway. My father was the attorney that represented a family of a child who while crossing the street was hit and killed. They won the lawsuit and changed (federally) the law where buses have to drop kids off on the same side.of the street they live on, I'm really proud of him for that. This was just tragic all the way around.
I really feel for the engineer. A father of of friend of mine from childhood, hit and killed someone while driving a tractor trailer. The person had decided to commit suicide by jumping out in front of him at the last second. He had no time to respond. He is still messed up to this day. He's a good man...the alcohol just grabbed him and has never let go.
my father was a truck driver, he told me a story similar to the one you are telling, it happened on a highway guy dressed in dark clothes jumped out in front of a truck,smeared him for a couple miles on the pavement, shut down the highway, happened on the new jersey turnpike, thats what dad told us.
that happened to me, someone jumped in front of the 18 wheeler in front of me. my car was covered in blood and chunks... 10 out of 10 wouldn't recommend. lol my dad hanged himself 16 yrs ago thankfully he did it alone cuz its kinda fcked up to make someone else a 2nd party to your demise. they have to live with your decision for life.
“Reading out a morbid registry…” I’m shaken up by how horrifyingly tragic that is, how it’d feel standing there, praying to not hear my child’s name… I could never imagine. My heart goes out to the victim’s families.
Heads up for drivers, when teenagers who have the exact same route every day, 5 days a week, for most of the year then listen to them when they’re screaming for you to move off a train track.
IKR? When I was an Illinois high school student a few years back, students would help out subs all the time and tell them the route/stops if there was any confusion. When you ride the bus on a similar route in the same town everyday since 5 years old YOU KNOW WHERE THE BUS SHOULD BE
@Skynet I've been a school bus driver for 15 years, in NY and fl. I agree that some of the drivers that have been hired in my time shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car let alone a bus!
The bus driver never should have crossed those tracks in the end she was responsible for what happened you can tell by looking at the crossing that the bus wouldn't fit I used to ride that bus the regular driver never crossed the tracks unless the bus had a green light from the stop light
She was the fucking safety officer no way she didn’t know that was about idea. “She feels responsible” Bitch you are responsible if that were my kid there would be no place for you to hide and throw yourself a pity party. I’m irrational angry at this woman. God Damn
Somewhat in her defense, that light runs very short, and it’s not one would be on a normal route for her. The crossing is only two car length away from the light.
@@SouthernCoastal no defense for her action. In all driving manuals it says never stop on tracks, ever. Even if there is a gap in between tracks never stop 🚏 n that spot. Always stop approximately 10 feet before tracks. She was absolutely negligent whether it was her rout or not. Same rules apply
I went to high school in this area and it was very much still a story that haunted students 20 years on. The train tracks are a massive issue that no one seems to care to fix. I have been on the train to chicago multiple times when a person has been hit. There are no proper fences to keep people off the tracks, only the guards that go down to block the road. Students regularly have to cross tracks on foot and it becomes incredibly dangerous in the winter when everything is frozen over. The trains back up traffic in the towns and can cause people to try and rush through the crossing since they are freight trains, and if you get stuck behind one you will be there for awhile - so if you have somewhere to be, people tend to rush rather than wait. The safety is so incredibly poor it puts the community into danger. I’m so glad you covered this story
I'm with ya there. I'm a Highland Park resident and we repeatedly have problems when the gates will go down...and there's no train at all. Or they'll start going up, leading people to want to rush through, but then stop halfway and go back down again and there IS a train, and it's already started moving. Metra really needs to pull its act together.
That's the sadist of story's, all this time, and people still dieing.. May they ALL🙏💯🆘REST IN PEACE.... IN THIS DAY AND AGE THERE SHOULD BE NO MORE LOST🙏🆘💯😭☠️
I remember this bus accident, & it brought back memories from when I was in elementary school and I seen my best friend get hit by a car as he got off the bus crossing the road. He was killed instantly when it happened and I had nightmares for the longest time each time I fell asleep at night. I still miss him today, even though it's been over 40yrs ago.
I used to drive for a summer camp and school. Whenever I came to a R/R crossing, I made damn sure that if there were children on my bus, every one of them became quiet until after we had stopped, checked and double checked to make sure there was no trains coming. Train tracks scare the heck out of me even while I don't drive a school bus anymore. I do remember being on my way back to the school after my morning drop-off and having a signal gate come down on my bus. It freaked me out so much, I hit the gas and never drove that way again.
That’s what I remember when I was in elementary school, we had to be quiet & knew when we got to a railroad so that our driver could open the door & listen for a train when crossing! I’m 29 now & I still remember that, so this incident is so crazy to me
This could of been prevented by just NOT stopping on the tracks like your supposed to with ANY vehicle, with ANY color light and even if the crossing guards aren't down. Trains are powerful machines that can't stop on a dime like other vehicles can, their large and crushing. If you ever find yourself in the situation where you're thinking of crossing the tracks even though you know a train is coming, or the crossing guards are down with no train in sight; Think twice and just wait for it to pass don't risk your life just cause you don't wanna wait for it to pass. (BTW:i do have sympathy for the driver but not nearly as much as i do for the other victims and families/friends who lost loved ones)
I mean its the drivers fault. How hard is it to step on the gas when a bunch of kids are screaming to do it. Also, she could have just drobe away when the lights turned green, she had 6 seconds. Not saying its 100% her fault but...
@@cdumdum234 In my opinion, the 'contributing factors' only contribute ~10% fault. The rest is entirely on that driver. I'm glad she feels guilty for the kids she killed.
As a semi retired bus driver, I know to never mess with a train. I always stopped before the tracks if there was a stop sign or traffic light on the other side and wouldn't cross until it was safe to do so. The reason why I say semi retired bus driver and crossed train tracks is past tense is because Canadas worst bus accident, the Humboldt bus crash hit me hard. All us bus drivers know each other, and help each other out. Then a week later I narrowly escaped my own disaster, with a hockey team of my own and again with a big tractor trailer unit. After that something just snapped in my head and I have high anxiety whenever driving a big bus making me unsafe behind the wheel. I do still drive a small bus on a tiny island where there isn't even a traffic light, however that is it. It is a high stress occupation, and if you can't deal with it you don't belong behind the wheel.
@@lauravacek4293 thank you Laura, Hornby Island, one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. I will probably drive again but am taking the next year away from it. I still work in the industry, up north during the winter road season. Mainly guiding the drivers around the mine sites from the warmth of a 1 ton pickup. I was lucky enough to have driven them for 6 years, and they offered me this position when they knew I had to make some changes.
Train engineer having to cross that same location years later is so unbelievably rough. Not surprised at all he needed a buddy to support him each time. I was only assaulted at a certain intersection, and I couldn't go back. He is strong.
Oh my heart. I can't imagine the poor train engineer, bearing down in a school bus load of children and knowing he couldn't stop. I can't imagine the children, seeing a train racing toward them...I can't imagine that instant when the engineer and the children lock eyes, both screaming in horror...
I’ve never understood why schools don’t assign a driver AND a second school employee to attend to student issues. Bus drivers can’t safely attend to onboard issues while driving.
This is true! I’m an aide on a bus for special needs children but have ridden on a regular bus with kids I can only describe as wild. I could never be a bus driver!
You must be very naive then. Money is the reason. You will double the cost of taking the kids to school. Who is going to pat for that additional cost? Bus drivers can safely deal with any issues. They simply stop the bus and deal with the issue.
I used to be a counselor-in-training for an all-girls summer camp in middle and high school. Whenever the bus came to a crossing, we would yell "hands up! Mouths shut!" All the girls would put one hand in the air and the other hand over their mouths so that the driver could listen for trains. I wish all buses had some kind of catchy phrase or protocol for kids/passengers to follow when it comes to trains, because, as my dad says, "trains are still the baddest things on wheels."
Anyone that lived in Illinois when this tragic accident occurred, will never forget what happened. It was 100% the drivers fault, because she let herself get distracted, and that's one thing that's taught for someone not to do while behind the wheel. RIP to all the students who lost their lives.
Yeah, she was a fill-in, the bus was nearly an hour behind schedule, the kids were helping her with the route for heaven's sake. Apparently for how 'memorable' this accident was, you can't seem to get your facts straight.
It said she had experience driving school busses. So she must have had the same training all school bus drivers need. If she didn't then she was driving illegally which still makes it her fault. To drive a school bus you need a commercial licence with endorsements for both passenger vehicles and school busses. Either way every driver is taught of the dangers of becoming distracted whilst driving.
@@viper1431 exactly. They teach safety constantly when you become a bus driver. You know to stop at RR crossings and never ever stop on tracks. There was not enough room between the intersection where she had to stop and the tracks behind her. It is a small area and if she would have only looked a couple car lengths ahead, she would've seen that. :(
When I was in high school, one of the bus drivers got bored of waiting at the lights so swung round them, only just got through as the train went past. Terrified loads of the students.
Two laws broken here (by current KY DOT statutes anyway), #1 A school bus shall not cross RR tracks unless the bus can clear the tracks by 50 feet, #2 A school bus shall NEVER stop on RR tracks. NEVER EVER.
The FRG incident was the catalyst for those laws. The pavement hash stripes at crossings,light timing/crossing interlocks etc all came from the lessons learned that October morning not 18 miles from my current location.
@@garysprandel1817 my mom drove a bus in the 80’s. Whenever she came to a RR crossing, she stopped and opened the door to make sure it was safe to cross. She never stopped on the tracks, ever! That was protocol even before this tragedy happened. If you can’t clear the tracks, then you just don’t cross!
@@leslieyancey5084 oh I agree ( 40 years driving commercially myself) but it was more of a slap on the wrist,wink and a nod kind of like drunk driving was except maybe for gas tankers. It was the FRG incident where that became a huge fine and and other regulations regarding marking crossing no go areas and signal interlocking times and standards were instituted or tightened.
The road network in America is diabolical when it comes to train crossings . Most crashes are caused by lights and junctions on the other side of the track with not enough room to allow for backed up traffic
A friend of mine had kids at that high school, so this hit close to home. Everyone had mixed opinions on what really caused it, but it’s hard not to point a finger at the bus driver. Kids can really burn a person out, with all the on-bus shenanigans, so one could understand why she might be a bit jaded to their calls to move the bus. But at the end of the day, safety comes first, and safety did not come first. Tragically.
That and also train engineers are always honking their horn at train passings so whenever something’s actually in the way and they’re honking their heart out, crying wolf in a sense so when something’s actually in the way, people are just thinking “oh a trains just passing by”
Being the bis driver you shouldn't have to be told to get the bus off the tracks. She doesn't know how long the bus is.. not a professional at all. Its not that hard.. I been driving over 35 years before cdl came out. She is negligence...
@@stevenjones618 She wasn't really a bus driver though. It said at the start of the video, the school was having trouble finding a substitute bus driver. She was just informed she would be driving a couple of hours before the accident.
@@emordnilap4747 wait a minute. I was driving trucks before cdl came out. This is the time cdls were out. Even bus drivers needed to have endorsed to drive. Are you saying she didn't have a proper liscence to drive bus.. and because of the tragedy she wasn't cited or jailed. But today if someone kills someone with a cdl is held accountable. And if they don't have a liscence to drive commercial vehicles that adds to the sentencing... hmmm
@@stevenjones618I did know you need a special license, but nothing else, including when that law was passed. I just rewatched the beginning to be sure. She was the safety officer, ironically. She did have her license, but did not drive buses regularly. She was unexpectedly told she had to drive, when it was already running late, and was unfamiliar with the route. You would know better then I, that she definitely screwed up, though is sounds like she wasn't entirely prepared for the job.
A very well put together video mate, as a train driver I have had the odd close call with a car jumping a crossing but still couldn't imagine that feeling of hopelessness rounding a bend and seeing a school bus fouling the line.
I was an engineer for 12 years and hit 6 cars, correction 5 and 1 drove into us, but no fatalities. Just about every one of them gave the "I didn't see you." excuse. Translation-"I wasn't paying attention."
I feel for all involved. Couldn’t the bus driver look in her side mirrors and realize she was still on the track. She said she was side tracked by the kids screaming listen to why they are screaming. I’m surprised the kids didn’t run to the front of the bus
I was in a school bus crash when I was a teen, head on collision with a dump truck, but it was on dirt roads at about 35 mph so the bus driver was the only serious injury from hitting the windshield, but it caused me to have PTSD for the rest of my life, and I'm sure it affected the rest of the kids too, so around here we take care when driving around school buses here in North East Kansas.
This is the 3rd story of yours that I've watched. You have fascinating tales to tell and I cannot say enough good things about your channel. Your voice. Your professionalism. I know you have done research to give great details and information. Thank you!
This was such a sad day. I lived in Chicago at the time, not far from Fox River Grove when this happened. I was also a freshman in high school and remember the surrealism of such a horrible thing happening to kids my age. It sat with myself and a lot of my peers for years after. Thank you for covering this in such a respectful and true to events way.
Wrong. The intersection/railroad crossing was set up for disaster. I would love go see you react within SIX SECONDS of chaos, with a bus full of kids who were just laughing and joking seconds before. . r_r
Having seen that death traps of an intersection I'm surprised there were so few fatal accidents there. I hope the money saved on it was worth all those kids' lives.
The drivers fault,, she sacrificed safety for time, she knew she was on the tracks,, she never should have pulled up knowing she would not clear the tracks,, just like a car can't stop in an intersection,, if you're not going to clear the intersection you cant enter it
When I was in school, we had a substitute bus driver one day and she stopped the bus right in the middle of the train tracks. Luckily no trains were coming at that time, but it was a major safety mistake and should never have happened.
I know a school bus driver who was in a similar sutuation. When crossing the tracks with enough room to spare, a car went around him, cut in front on him, and stopped - forcing him to stop sooner with the bus too close to the RR tracks. Traffic was backed up, the signals were activated, and the bus driver 'pushed' the car to allow clearance for his bus. No train/bus collision but when the police came to the car/bus accudent .... the driver of the car recieved the ticket.
I lived in Cary when it happened. I was leaving my home to make sales calls when I noticed people getting off the train in tears at the Cary station. After the crash the train reversed back to Cary to clear the passengers. I had no idea what was going on till later at a customers business I heard about it. It was a sad time to say the least.
I remember this. She did not open the doors & listen, like they are suppose to before crossing. Neither did she have a decency or commonsense to move forward off the tracks. All the while the children were pleading with her to do so. Nor would she open the doors & let the children run off the bus to be saved.
She panicked and froze. Women do not do well in high stress situations. Not only did she not hear the horn form the train, she didnt see the light had already turned green.
so sad! My Mom drove a 40 foot school bus for around 10 years. She loved her job. In those years she had 2 accidents. Both were the other drivers fail to stop(hit the back end of bus). She thought the kids she drove to school, were like her own, and would treat them like it. Little treats for Holidays and such.. She would have not cross the tracks without making sure she had room. Better be late, than never make it. I feel bad for all involved.
I started riding a bus not too long after this incident and I remember how my mom and dad had a hard time not driving me to school . Thankfully the railroad was only industrial and didn't go past the string of factories through each county. Still,I see why it would unnerve them.
I remember this making the national news. In Minnesota, where I live, laws have been proposed requiring trains to go 35mph/56kph through cities and towns rather than full “highway” speed if they are within the towns themselves, often citing this exact accident. The opponents always say, “That will never happen here.” Until it does.
Limiting train speed does little to nothing with that difference in mass. Having drivers aware of the clearences of their vehicles and not designing flankly asinine crossings like this one might help, though.
@@captainufo4587 I care to disagree, 35mph means the crash will be bad but not like hitting at full speed of 60mph+ That's simple physics, the kinetic energy imparted by the train will be less at lower speeds.
@@jordanhicks5131 th-cam.com/video/j2eFyu8pT9M/w-d-xo.html This is a 50km/h impact on the side of a car, by a puny cart that stops basically immediately, and has a fraction of the inertial mass of a train. Trains are huge, heavy, and will plow through a school bus or a car like it's butter. Let alone that at slower speed, there's higher changes that the train derails, injuring or killing even more people (imagine an 80 ton passenger car toppling over a scarcely 20 ton school bus). Add on top of that (but I realize this is not a compelling argument because this is Murica, public transport must be shit so we can worship our petrol god) that a commuter service that is slower than a car will impact its viability, and you see why the proposal is useless.
How absolutely horrifying for those children seeing eminent doom heading for them with no way to get away. Just heart wrenching. I pray they are resting peacefully all these years later and that their loved ones and all the other children who were involved have healed in their bodies and souls. My daughter was just a year and a few months old at that time and I just couldn’t imagine the soul wrenching pain that the parents off all involved have had to deal with. 💔🙏🏻😞
Something like this almost happened to me a year ago. The bus driver stopped the front of the bus right under the arm on the rail road sign and the arm slowly went down hitting the hood of the bus and she just sat there letting it happen while kids were screaming at her to back up. A kid on the bus took a picture of it while it happened. Its on Fox News, just look up School bus almost hit by passing train. It happened in Redfield Arkansas Edit: She did get fired, which thank god cause she was such an evil and mean lady.
@@godzillaqueen some of us have nightmares about being bus drivers though! I'm a teacher and my school is always trying to recruit the teachers to be bus drivers. Ha! You couldn't pay me enough.
Six seconds I'm studying for my CDL now and I just don't think that big school bus would have cleared or got up to speed in time to make it across. I will not be trying to debunk it but it just doesn't seem the set up with the tracks and lights were thought out to well. And screaming kids and teen's did help the situation out. Thanks for the upload 🖤🤎👍🏾
This always stood out for me; I live down stream of Fox River. Until recently, I had never heard of this. Hearing Fox River just jolts me like hearing your name in a crowd. *Post edit- I now understand why the school bus’s safety laws and train crossings seem so intense here. I’m not sure about other places, but I know it’s for the better.
I just moved out of the area earlier this year and I crossed this intersection every time I went to visit my best friend. Never knew this. Creepy. Heartbreaking. And yes, that intersection sucked. Also, like everyone else keeps saying, please keep making new videos! Your video on Travis the chimp is what brought me here, and I plan to stick around for a while :)
Poor train driver, he couldn't do a damn thing to stop the crash. The bus driver, what a stupid woman. If the train is coming you pull into the intersection. Cars can stop. Trains can't. It's not a difficult choice.
Its says alot about them as people. The train engineer, even though he isn't at fault, feels the brunt of it and tried his best to warn the driver. The bus lady should've have at least publicly faced the crowd and apologized if she truly felt remorsefully and guilty.
Tragic accident. I didn't know the driver of the bus was a safety officer or something. Doesn't that mean the person who holds the Stop sign at cross walks? School bus driver's in my school day's 1983-1995 were not safe in any manner. I road the bus 1.5 hrs to and from school. Idk how we made it. Stuck in ditches with 2 feet of snow on the road. They didn't cancel school over an inch of snow like they do now.
I grew up in Illinois and went to a near by school. This disaster still effects these communities I honestly can't remember any bus I was on crossing train tracks if they could help it. Everyone effected by this tragedy deserve all the love and kindness in the world.... with the exception of the bus driver who still blames the kids to this day.
I've watched a few short clips of train-vehicle collisions at crossings and I have to say that most are preventable. Motorists often are in a hurry, or do not show any caution at crossings, or are ignorant of how to behave at crossings.
Every Chicago-area person who is around my age will never forget this. After this horrendous accident bus drivers changed the way they drove over tracks. Now for some reason they always stop at the tracks open the doors and look both ways. That started for me when I was in fourth grade back when this happened.
I remember this story. The vigil a couple of days after..the names of those who perished were read out loud..and their friends loudly sobbing..one of the most heartbreaking stories in the Chicagoland area. Oh, for those outside of the US, in the beginning, a yellow school bus is near a mountain. Just to be clear, there are no mountains in the Chicago area at all. It was a horrendous story.
this video, like many others, fills up time with stock/other video clips to tell the story. Considering this happened in 1995, the only actual video would come from camcorders and news crews. A local now, could provide more accurate footage, but as the intersection was changed in response to this tragedy, it wouldn't be very useful for telling the story.
As someone of the same county, I'll tell you, bus safety is singlehandedly one of the largest priorities of school districts in the area. Bus drivers are so attuned to the safety of their busses and the students aboard them. I truthfully think this is what makes the bus drivers in the area so passionate about what they do. Illinois as a state doesn't do much when it comes to train track vs person safety despite something like this happening not so long ago. It's been half a decade since I've used a school bus but I will tell you, the drivers love those kids more than anything. Bus accidents are no joke, especially when kids are involved.
There are crossings like that in Australia to this day,they require a vehicle to activate the traffic light but don’t provide enough space for more than a car. An experienced bus or truck driver would rather do battle with another low speed car or truck instead of a train, but clearly the bus driver driver was not experienced and therefore should not be blamed. I feel for the families of all involved, but I would never blame the bus driver
I'll blame anyone that thinks students are beneath them. If someone would react differently between depending on whether they were driving a school bus or a city bus, when the passengers are screaming about a train, and assume that students are just being rowdy and should be ignored, then I place 100% of the blame on them. I absolutely loathe people that are incapable of speaking to a teenager as their equal, people that are prejudiced against youth, and speak in a condescending way. I don't care if they're parents, teachers, or any other type of person that legally holds authority, nor do I care how commonplace this type of thinking is, I will always hate people that engage in that type of thinking and behavior.
At 15:33:01 on 24 October 2002 passenger train 5AL8 collided with a car and scheduled bus on the Salisbury Interchange controlled level crossing on Park Terrace. As a result of the accident four people were killed and 26 injured. A small sedan car and the bus were effectively destroyed. I was there to see it happen, it's a birthday I wish I could forget
Of all the excuses listed, the one i refuse to accept is the DRIVER being distracted and missing the green light. The bus was not stuck on the tracks, she caused the wreck due to NOT GOING when the light turned green. Im a truck driver and can tell you, it is OUR responsibility to PAY ATTENTION. Distractions are not an excuse. Anyone who is that easily distracted shouldnt be allowed to drive a HOT DOG CART, let alone a school bus full of children.
Thanks for an interesting video. I have to wonder how the driver who overslept felt. If he/she hadn't overslept, then the less competent driver never would have been driving that day. I'm still not clear why the driver didn't move forward if the light really turned green six seconds before the crash. Is there any testimony from the driver about what she saw? If the light was green, why wasn't she moving the bus forward? Does she claim that she didn't see the light turn green? Does she claim that the rules prevented her from moving the bus when kids were standing and that kids were standing? Does she even remember what happened?
She probably turned around and adopted a dumb attitude of she's not gonna move the bus til the students be quiet, and probably didn't believe the students one bit and thought she was above them. I absolutely hate people like that and hate that she got off.
@@harbingerofwarx995 The problem is that we don't really KNOW that this is what happened. There are also so many other errors of judgement involved in this incident that she would surely not be held fully at fault in any case. I suspect she never talked about this because, like you, she herself feels she deserved more of a punishment than she actually received. To be honest, I would find the constant judgement of the community, along with one's own sense of guilt, to be a heavy punishment.
@@k.c1126 she's lucky that folks like you have all this sympathy for her. A lot of people seem to save their feelings for the parents who lost their children. Not only did the kids yell, the train blew its horn. There is zero excuse for ignoring those cues except that she ASSUMED the situation wasn't serious. Problem is - she was wrong. Now, she has to deal with the consequences of her choice - and while I'm not for harassment and threats, I have no problem with her being excluded otherwise. Some things are unforgivable, particularly when it actually affects you. It's easier to tell folks to brush off the death of a loved one when you have no personal interest.
@@harbingerofwarx995 Sadly so many school drivers are like that. As soon as they get the slighted inkling that you're "disrespecting" them they get indignant. Even had a sub driver threaten to sit on the tracks if one of the riders didn't get quiet; the student he pointed out was legitimately mute we were also in elementary school. How she wasn't sued out the ass is beyond me.
@@juniortofu I was lucky enough to only have that kind of bus driver for like 1 year of my life. The rest of the time I had excellent bus drivers. Though my favorite bus driver probably could have been easily fired, because he was very loose with rules, made dirty jokes with the students all the time, and would shout and curse at other drivers that did things like block intersections. So many great memories of him and he would side with the students he drove any day, never yelled at any of us even if we were rowdy.
There are still a very high number of very hazardous railroad crossings that need to be addressed. Another one is Grand Avenue just west of Harlem Avenue in Elmwood Park Illinois where 15 cars were on the railroad tracks trapped by traffic gridlock. 15 vehicles were hit. Miraculously there were no fatalities but some injuries though. The train here was traveling as fast as the Metra Train that went through Fox River Grove Illinois.
Wonder if traffic signals weren’t so delayed near train crossings. It seems most incidents are contributed with irresponsible drivers taking chances on these crossings with zero tolerance for danger and traffic signals taking excessively long time to change to allow traffic to continue. I have noticed signals are terrible near train crossings and they seem to purposely set to allow slow transition. Driver should’ve paid attention to the road or hear the panic from students to move the bus.
Ugh this makes me so angry! Such senseless loss of life. Even if the light wasn't green, I'd run the risk of a vehicle vs. bus collision verses a train vs. bus collision.
Because she didn't cause the accident: she stopped where the traffic light told her to stop. There was no way for her to see that she was 8 inches over the track or that the train extended 3 feet out from the tracks. The intersection was poorly designed after they widened the highway, not leaving enough room for a large vehicle. This could have happened to any vehicle or any driver. It was a ticking time bomb.
@@rachelstratman1405 there was only 30 feet between the road and train. You shouldn't be driving anything you don't know the size of... and this is why. For one, there is supposed to be at least 20 feet of clearance, and she knew full well she didn't have that. She thought she squeezed it in. Bad judgment all around, and she absolutely deserves the criticism. I don't understand this support for a complete lack of common sense.
@@rachelstratman1405everything on Earth is a ticking time bomb to the careless and impatient. We're not talking about the bus breaking down at the wrong time, we're talking about negligent behavior. This should encourage people to be more thoughtful and consider their surroundings more, but no. It's easier to blame the poorly designed tracks.
@@SurahOnline I notice that every time negligent behavior causes preventable deaths, the excuses overflow. Of course, nobody wanted anyone to die. However, people need to stop prioritizing time and money over safety - but we refuse to do that, right?
There are procedures in place for crossing train tracks. All students must be silent, driver opens window & door so he/she can hear & see clearly & you NEVER cross a track unless you have room to clear the track entirely with room to spare. If a vehicle has to be on the other side of the track to trigger the light - use a different route. We had an intersection like this where I drove & it was instant termination if you tried to cross the tracks at that intersection. This was a driver error. She should have laid on her horn & driven forward to clear the tracks & hoped she didn't injure anyone in front of her. Just my opinion.
Bus crashes hit a tad personal for me, I've never been in one thankfully, but as a Canadian, bus or plane crashes are legitimately the leading cause of death of hockeh players here, every 1-3 years there's a huge tragedy as a bus full crashes or a plane goes down. Most recent was the Humboldt Broncos out in Saskatchewan. A semi-truck (18 wheeler and full trailer) turned infront of the bus, killing 16 young boys almost immediately.
Was reminded of the Humboldt crash, when the narration of this tragic story began, only this time it was the truck driver’s fault, as well as the problematic 4 way stop. If I recall, there was a cut back on some of the trees that apparently blocked the truck driver’s view of the road, where the stop sign is. Too little, too late and it makes you wonder what other roads out there, may be problematic and lead to a future disaster.🇨🇦
I remember this extremely well. I was 6 years old and attended another school district the next town over ,but I remember roads being blocked off, a massive media frenzy and dozens and dozens of people being there. I remember the news. I remember the pictures they were showing. I know that railroad crossing very well. It haunts me to this day. So unfortunate for the families.
My favourite new channel I've found. We have to get you better well known sir you are an amazing story teller and have brilliant contents. Good luck sir. X
as a kid in school, i was always blown away by the way a school bus will stop, partially on train crossings, open the door, & the driver looks down the tracks, im guessing to rely on the drivers eyes, to cross instead of trusting the crossing lights. the problem with this, is the driver is much less reliable than the lights, and the other problem is the bus couldnt get off the track in time, if the lights had malfunctioned, since it had stopped, meaning it would be much safer to just cross if the lights arent signaling. maybe its different now, i was out of school by the time this incident happened, but buses were very unsafe when i was in school, there were 100% no seatbelts, the seats werent even attached to the frames, we used to throw the seats out the windows as a joke.
I trained and drove a mini school bus for a short time back in 2018? We were to stop before the track; it’s actually an exact/precise point and open the door for the visual and auditory senses. I’m with you in that we need to put a bit more trust in the computers/sensors that would trigger types of warnings. Put my faith 100% in those things this past summer while visiting an amusement park for the first time in 30 years 😅 and riding these unbelievable roller coasters. Seeing these kids at the controls and wondering/worrying about every possible scenario while on line for an hour 😂My son assured me that they have engineers walking/checking around, but that it’s the coasters ‘brain’/computer switches that secure (not guarantee) our safety. He must have been mighty convincing because I rode every one! I’ve not watched this video yet….don’t know if I will. Am just reading comments.
God so many things about the bus driver frustrate me so much. It's called being aware of our surroundings when driving a vehicle..especially one that has 30 children on there that aren't yours! Whether or not the kids were screaming or not shouldn't have deterred her from noticing the light had turned green indicating it was safe to go. Then also not having the decency to front the public and/or the parents about what you did....honestly....RIP poor kids.
NEVER NEVER NEVER ALLOW AN UNTRAINED BUS DRIVER TO DRIVE STUDENTS! The district was negligent. You can say you have experience all you want, but if you aren't a trained bus driver, you have no business driving a bus. The driver should've listened to the kids.
OmG.. WHY was the Bus Driver NOT Charged & Arrested for this!??! I Can't believe so Many CHILDREN WERE KILLED & Many More Suffering Lifelong Mental & Physical Injuries, Yet She Got Away With *CAUSING THIS HORRIFIC INCIDENT* due to her Recklessness & Disregarding Those Poor Innocent Helpless Children who were PLEADING FOR THEIR LIVES But Were TRAPPED in that bus & Could do Nothing as they WATCHED that TRAIN Smash Into Them!!!! How Could she NOT HEAR a Damn TRAIN BLARING it's HORN? How did She NOT NOTICE that the CROSSING ARM had HIT THE TOP of the BUS? How Could she NOT SEE the Damn TRAIN BARRELING TOWARDS the BUS? HOW COULD SHE IGNORE The CRIES of the CHILDREN? CRIES Which were Filled with ABSOLUTE FEAR, CRIES Filled with the FEAR of CERTAIN DEATH? YOU CAN *NOT* Mistake those HORRIFIC CRIES With CHILDREN JOKING!!!! Why Didn't She see that the LIGHT WAS GREEN FOR 6 SECONDS?! All she had to do was *LITERALLY* Just TURN her head to the Side and she would've SEEN the TRAIN!!!!!
Those of you advocating that the speed of the train is the major fault...does it mean nothing to you at all that the driver put this bus in harm's way? The driver, it is clearly stated, was trying to make the light turn green and kept inching forward to do so. Whether or not the driver was aware the bus had not cleared the tracks is totally irrelevant. Yes, those people died needlessly, but it was neither the train nor the train engineer's fault. And no...I have never worked for a railroad.
Substitute bus driver didn't see the green light telling her that she can GO because she was distracted by all of the students screaming at her and pleading with her to GO!!! Yeah lady, your $hit show of a story makes complete sense! Who the hell gave this woman a drivers license? And who the hell let this woman drive a bus load of children???!!! I'm glad she blames herself, she should blame herself.
Bless that nurse who immediately tried to help. I know it's what's expected of medical professionals but I still found it admirable that she dropped everything and used whatever was at her disposal.
TERITORIAL FIRST AIDERS QYICKLY TOOK OVER EFFECTIVELY KNOCKING THE NURSE OUT SHE WAS ORDERED TO HOSPITAL GET OUT OF OUR TERRITORY
@@lindathrall5133 chill
Thank you. I know it's expected. But that doesn't make it easier; but when it's kids, it's especially tough
I got chills when it mentioned her witnessing the crash. As a child of first responders, I could just see her jumping up from a seat and running toward the scene with her training and education already in gear.
I feel for the train driver. He couldn’t do anything to prevent it.
69 mph through a crossing seems like too fast. Why was the speed limit for the train so high at a crossing? I assume the engineer was required to go so fast.
SHe could have moved three ft forward into the crosswalk
@@MikeJones-rk1un there’s no speed limit for trains at crossings the speed limit for this line in fact is 90mph. He would probably have to be going around 25mph to be able to stop
@@Stoker58 The damage caused at lower speeds would be much less.
@@MikeJones-rk1un It still would have been significant due to the mass of the train. But railroads have multiple crossings especially this line. If we limit the whole line to slow speeds you defeat the purpose of a railroad
When you said, "and he did" I nearly cried with relief. I have a twin and I cannot imagine the pain that boy felt holding his brother
In the 1960s school buses used to stop on one side of the street and if kids lived on the other side they would have to cross, even if it was a highway. My father was the attorney that represented a family of a child who while crossing the street was hit and killed. They won the lawsuit and changed (federally) the law where buses have to drop kids off on the same side.of the street they live on, I'm really proud of him for that. This was just tragic all the way around.
Funny I still see them doing this all the time. In fact that is why we have laws about passing a buss when it is stopped.
Wow I've seen my nephew get dropped off on the wrong side a few times last year, in Oklahoma. I didn't know that was illegal!
@@brianelkins8604 It is legal to cross students on a 2 lane roadway only.
@@MyPalJimbo It is legal to cross students on a 2 lane roadway only
@@ljoelmchanley3676 it is only illegal when there is a midian in the center.
I really feel for the engineer. A father of of friend of mine from childhood, hit and killed someone while driving a tractor trailer. The person had decided to commit suicide by jumping out in front of him at the last second. He had no time to respond. He is still messed up to this day. He's a good man...the alcohol just grabbed him and has never let go.
This is so sad😥 poor man
my father was a truck driver, he told me a story similar to the one you are telling, it happened on a highway guy dressed in dark clothes jumped out in front of a truck,smeared him for a couple miles on the pavement, shut down the highway, happened on the new jersey turnpike, thats what dad told us.
that happened to me, someone jumped in front of the 18 wheeler in front of me. my car was covered in blood and chunks... 10 out of 10 wouldn't recommend. lol my dad hanged himself 16 yrs ago thankfully he did it alone cuz its kinda fcked up to make someone else a 2nd party to your demise. they have to live with your decision for life.
How horrible and selfish!!!!
“Reading out a morbid registry…” I’m shaken up by how horrifyingly tragic that is, how it’d feel standing there, praying to not hear my child’s name… I could never imagine. My heart goes out to the victim’s families.
It hurts even more to think that it could’ve so easily been avoided
Heads up for drivers, when teenagers who have the exact same route every day, 5 days a week, for most of the year then listen to them when they’re screaming for you to move off a train track.
She probably didn't even understand them. Listening to a single voice of always boisterous teens is hard.
IKR? When I was an Illinois high school student a few years back, students would help out subs all the time and tell them the route/stops if there was any confusion. When you ride the bus on a similar route in the same town everyday since 5 years old YOU KNOW WHERE THE BUS SHOULD BE
I feel so bad for the train engineer, I’m glad you included him in the updates!
Yeah, it must’ve been so tough for him
The Driver was a Female
@@mateorodriguez5131 oh, whoopsie
Story summed up in one word. Negligence.
Absolutely. But could we also add a couple for the kids?! Tragic? Unfair? Horrifying? Heartbreaking?!
@@deenormus1975 I mean that's pretty obvious and didn't really need pointing out.
@@alistair7981 lol. Sure.
The Driver Should have Been Charged !!!
@Skynet I've been a school bus driver for 15 years, in NY and fl. I agree that some of the drivers that have been hired in my time shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car let alone a bus!
The bus driver never should have crossed those tracks in the end she was responsible for what happened you can tell by looking at the crossing that the bus wouldn't fit I used to ride that bus the regular driver never crossed the tracks unless the bus had a green light from the stop light
She should have knownnnnn that was the wrong move !!!!
She was the fucking safety officer no way she didn’t know that was about idea. “She feels responsible” Bitch you are responsible if that were my kid there would be no place for you to hide and throw yourself a pity party. I’m irrational angry at this woman. God Damn
The substitute bus driver was in a messed up situation and didn't handle it right. She made a very serious mistake
Somewhat in her defense, that light runs very short, and it’s not one would be on a normal route for her. The crossing is only two car length away from the light.
@@SouthernCoastal no defense for her action. In all driving manuals it says never stop on tracks, ever. Even if there is a gap in between tracks never stop 🚏 n that spot. Always stop approximately 10 feet before tracks. She was absolutely negligent whether it was her rout or not. Same rules apply
I went to high school in this area and it was very much still a story that haunted students 20 years on. The train tracks are a massive issue that no one seems to care to fix. I have been on the train to chicago multiple times when a person has been hit. There are no proper fences to keep people off the tracks, only the guards that go down to block the road. Students regularly have to cross tracks on foot and it becomes incredibly dangerous in the winter when everything is frozen over. The trains back up traffic in the towns and can cause people to try and rush through the crossing since they are freight trains, and if you get stuck behind one you will be there for awhile - so if you have somewhere to be, people tend to rush rather than wait. The safety is so incredibly poor it puts the community into danger. I’m so glad you covered this story
I'm with ya there. I'm a Highland Park resident and we repeatedly have problems when the gates will go down...and there's no train at all. Or they'll start going up, leading people to want to rush through, but then stop halfway and go back down again and there IS a train, and it's already started moving. Metra really needs to pull its act together.
yea 3 years ago my express train hit someone in a suicide and we almost redrailed
That's the sadist of story's, all this time, and people still dieing.. May they ALL🙏💯🆘REST IN PEACE....
IN THIS DAY AND AGE THERE SHOULD BE NO MORE LOST🙏🆘💯😭☠️
Ban all trains . How many school trainings do we have to suffer before the government takes action
@@acid3129 wow...a dumb comment about something important, in the immediate wake of another school shooting. Hiw tasteful.
"He asked a friend to accompany him the next time he passed through the crossing." I feel so bad for him. He did all he could to avoid an accident.
I remember this bus accident, & it brought back memories from when I was in elementary school and I seen my best friend get hit by a car as he got off the bus crossing the road.
He was killed instantly when it happened and I had nightmares for the longest time each time I fell asleep at night.
I still miss him today, even though it's been over 40yrs ago.
That's horrific 💔 I'm so deeply sorry
I used to drive for a summer camp and school. Whenever I came to a R/R crossing, I made damn sure that if there were children on my bus, every one of them became quiet until after we had stopped, checked and double checked to make sure there was no trains coming. Train tracks scare the heck out of me even while I don't drive a school bus anymore. I do remember being on my way back to the school after my morning drop-off and having a signal gate come down on my bus. It freaked me out so much, I hit the gas and never drove that way again.
That’s what I remember when I was in elementary school, we had to be quiet & knew when we got to a railroad so that our driver could open the door & listen for a train when crossing! I’m 29 now & I still remember that, so this incident is so crazy to me
This could of been prevented by just NOT stopping on the tracks like your supposed to with ANY vehicle, with ANY color light and even if the crossing guards aren't down. Trains are powerful machines that can't stop on a dime like other vehicles can, their large and crushing. If you ever find yourself in the situation where you're thinking of crossing the tracks even though you know a train is coming, or the crossing guards are down with no train in sight; Think twice and just wait for it to pass don't risk your life just cause you don't wanna wait for it to pass. (BTW:i do have sympathy for the driver but not nearly as much as i do for the other victims and families/friends who lost loved ones)
Never ever stop
I mean its the drivers fault. How hard is it to step on the gas when a bunch of kids are screaming to do it. Also, she could have just drobe away when the lights turned green, she had 6 seconds. Not saying its 100% her fault but...
@@cdumdum234 In my opinion, the 'contributing factors' only contribute ~10% fault. The rest is entirely on that driver. I'm glad she feels guilty for the kids she killed.
As a semi retired bus driver, I know to never mess with a train.
I always stopped before the tracks if there was a stop sign or traffic light on the other side and wouldn't cross until it was safe to do so.
The reason why I say semi retired bus driver and crossed train tracks is past tense is because Canadas worst bus accident, the Humboldt bus crash hit me hard.
All us bus drivers know each other, and help each other out.
Then a week later I narrowly escaped my own disaster, with a hockey team of my own and again with a big tractor trailer unit.
After that something just snapped in my head and I have high anxiety whenever driving a big bus making me unsafe behind the wheel.
I do still drive a small bus on a tiny island where there isn't even a traffic light, however that is it.
It is a high stress occupation, and if you can't deal with it you don't belong behind the wheel.
Sorry about your anxiety. I'm glad you still drive! Do you like your new passengers, and what is the island?
@@lauravacek4293 thank you Laura,
Hornby Island, one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands.
I will probably drive again but am taking the next year away from it.
I still work in the industry, up north during the winter road season.
Mainly guiding the drivers around the mine sites from the warmth of a 1 ton pickup.
I was lucky enough to have driven them for 6 years, and they offered me this position when they knew I had to make some changes.
Train engineer having to cross that same location years later is so unbelievably rough. Not surprised at all he needed a buddy to support him each time. I was only assaulted at a certain intersection, and I couldn't go back. He is strong.
Oh my heart. I can't imagine the poor train engineer, bearing down in a school bus load of children and knowing he couldn't stop. I can't imagine the children, seeing a train racing toward them...I can't imagine that instant when the engineer and the children lock eyes, both screaming in horror...
I’ve never understood why schools don’t assign a driver AND a second school employee to attend to student issues. Bus drivers can’t safely attend to onboard issues while driving.
This is true! I’m an aide on a bus for special needs children but have ridden on a regular bus with kids I can only describe as wild. I could never be a bus driver!
Money.
You must be very naive then. Money is the reason. You will double the cost of taking the kids to school. Who is going to pat for that additional cost? Bus drivers can safely deal with any issues. They simply stop the bus and deal with the issue.
Actually, most bus companies are hiring both Aides and drivers.
@@cplcabs most companies are short both drivers and Aides. Even at twenty bucks an hour.
The fact that the driver was never punished pisses me off, she definitely knew she was guilty thats why she fled
Such an incredible channel, I am flabbergasted by how underrated you are. Please keep up the incredible work
Totally agree! I just found this channel and now a new subscriber 😍
Keep up the great work sir! 👏👏
Many blessings to you from Canada BC 🇨🇦♥️
I am a new sub, too, and notice his sub list is expanding as it should be.
This channel is going to blow up quick. Quality content and fantastic delivery by the host. 12/10
I strongly suggest checking out the Plainly Difficult channel if this kind of hindsight videos tickle your fancy.
Yes, I really enjoy the delivery and off the main trail content
I used to be a counselor-in-training for an all-girls summer camp in middle and high school. Whenever the bus came to a crossing, we would yell "hands up! Mouths shut!" All the girls would put one hand in the air and the other hand over their mouths so that the driver could listen for trains. I wish all buses had some kind of catchy phrase or protocol for kids/passengers to follow when it comes to trains, because, as my dad says, "trains are still the baddest things on wheels."
Anyone that lived in Illinois when this tragic accident occurred, will never forget what happened. It was 100% the drivers fault, because she let herself get distracted, and that's one thing that's taught for someone not to do while behind the wheel.
RIP to all the students who lost their lives.
I don't think she was a school bus driver, just had experience driving busses. Lots of things to blame, just sad it happened.
Yeah, she was a fill-in, the bus was nearly an hour behind schedule, the kids were helping her with the route for heaven's sake. Apparently for how 'memorable' this accident was, you can't seem to get your facts straight.
It said she had experience driving school busses. So she must have had the same training all school bus drivers need. If she didn't then she was driving illegally which still makes it her fault. To drive a school bus you need a commercial licence with endorsements for both passenger vehicles and school busses. Either way every driver is taught of the dangers of becoming distracted whilst driving.
@@viper1431 it's the school's fault for asking her in the first place.
@@viper1431 exactly. They teach safety constantly when you become a bus driver. You know to stop at RR crossings and never ever stop on tracks. There was not enough room between the intersection where she had to stop and the tracks behind her. It is a small area and if she would have only looked a couple car lengths ahead, she would've seen that. :(
When I was in high school, one of the bus drivers got bored of waiting at the lights so swung round them, only just got through as the train went past. Terrified loads of the students.
Who needs to go to a amusement park with drivers like that around?
Two laws broken here (by current KY DOT statutes anyway), #1 A school bus shall not cross RR tracks unless the bus can clear the tracks by 50 feet, #2 A school bus shall NEVER stop on RR tracks. NEVER EVER.
The FRG incident was the catalyst for those laws. The pavement hash stripes at crossings,light timing/crossing interlocks etc all came from the lessons learned that October morning not 18 miles from my current location.
@@garysprandel1817 my mom drove a bus in the 80’s. Whenever she came to a RR crossing, she stopped and opened the door to make sure it was safe to cross. She never stopped on the tracks, ever! That was protocol even before this tragedy happened. If you can’t clear the tracks, then you just don’t cross!
@@leslieyancey5084 oh I agree ( 40 years driving commercially myself) but it was more of a slap on the wrist,wink and a nod kind of like drunk driving was except maybe for gas tankers. It was the FRG incident where that became a huge fine and and other regulations regarding marking crossing no go areas and signal interlocking times and standards were instituted or tightened.
Ljoel you are right I drove a school bus for thirty two years
The road network in America is diabolical when it comes to train crossings . Most crashes are caused by lights and junctions on the other side of the track with not enough room to allow for backed up traffic
A friend of mine had kids at that high school, so this hit close to home. Everyone had mixed opinions on what really caused it, but it’s hard not to point a finger at the bus driver. Kids can really burn a person out, with all the on-bus shenanigans, so one could understand why she might be a bit jaded to their calls to move the bus. But at the end of the day, safety comes first, and safety did not come first. Tragically.
That and also train engineers are always honking their horn at train passings so whenever something’s actually in the way and they’re honking their heart out, crying wolf in a sense so when something’s actually in the way, people are just thinking “oh a trains just passing by”
Being the bis driver you shouldn't have to be told to get the bus off the tracks. She doesn't know how long the bus is.. not a professional at all. Its not that hard.. I been driving over 35 years before cdl came out. She is negligence...
@@stevenjones618 She wasn't really a bus driver though. It said at the start of the video, the school was having trouble finding a substitute bus driver. She was just informed she would be driving a couple of hours before the accident.
@@emordnilap4747 wait a minute. I was driving trucks before cdl came out. This is the time cdls were out. Even bus drivers needed to have endorsed to drive. Are you saying she didn't have a proper liscence to drive bus.. and because of the tragedy she wasn't cited or jailed. But today if someone kills someone with a cdl is held accountable. And if they don't have a liscence to drive commercial vehicles that adds to the sentencing... hmmm
@@stevenjones618I did know you need a special license, but nothing else, including when that law was passed. I just rewatched the beginning to be sure. She was the safety officer, ironically. She did have her license, but did not drive buses regularly. She was unexpectedly told she had to drive, when it was already running late, and was unfamiliar with the route. You would know better then I, that she definitely screwed up, though is sounds like she wasn't entirely prepared for the job.
A very well put together video mate, as a train driver I have had the odd close call with a car jumping a crossing but still couldn't imagine that feeling of hopelessness rounding a bend and seeing a school bus fouling the line.
I was an engineer for 12 years and hit 6 cars, correction 5 and 1 drove into us, but no fatalities. Just about every one of them gave the "I didn't see you." excuse. Translation-"I wasn't paying attention."
I feel for all involved. Couldn’t the bus driver look in her side mirrors and realize she was still on the track. She said she was side tracked by the kids screaming listen to why they are screaming. I’m surprised the kids didn’t run to the front of the bus
I was in a school bus crash when I was a teen, head on collision with a dump truck, but it was on dirt roads at about 35 mph so the bus driver was the only serious injury from hitting the windshield, but it caused me to have PTSD for the rest of my life, and I'm sure it affected the rest of the kids too, so around here we take care when driving around school buses here in North East Kansas.
This is the 3rd story of yours that I've watched. You have fascinating tales to tell and I cannot say enough good things about your channel. Your voice. Your professionalism. I know you have done research to give great details and information. Thank you!
I’m so glad the twins both survived.
This is one time where I wished every child had missed that school bus on that fateful day
Sadly you can't change fate, once this disaster happens, it's happens and there nothing we cannot do but watch the event unfold.
I wonder if she dreams of the students running up to her on the bus and screaming a train is coming, move, move.
I think the driver probably still has nighmares of the tragedy to this day, that is if she is still alive.
I hope she does.
I hope not, for her sake.
This was such a sad day. I lived in Chicago at the time, not far from Fox River Grove when this happened. I was also a freshman in high school and remember the surrealism of such a horrible thing happening to kids my age. It sat with myself and a lot of my peers for years after. Thank you for covering this in such a respectful and true to events way.
It was. I had people cared about involved, and it was a shock for everyone.
The bus driver is fully to blame. She made bad choices that lead to the disaster
Not even a real bus driver
Wrong. The intersection/railroad crossing was set up for disaster. I would love go see you react within SIX SECONDS of chaos, with a bus full of kids who were just laughing and joking seconds before. . r_r
The bus driver was in bed when he/she should have been driving the bus. So I guess you are right.
Having seen that death traps of an intersection I'm surprised there were so few fatal accidents there. I hope the money saved on it was worth all those kids' lives.
If kids are yelling a "train is coming"
No matter if it's a joke or not your supposed to take that serious and move.
The drivers fault,, she sacrificed safety for time, she knew she was on the tracks,, she never should have pulled up knowing she would not clear the tracks,, just like a car can't stop in an intersection,, if you're not going to clear the intersection you cant enter it
When I was in school, we had a substitute bus driver one day and she stopped the bus right in the middle of the train tracks. Luckily no trains were coming at that time, but it was a major safety mistake and should never have happened.
I sure hope she got in trouble for that.
That Driver is 100% to BLAME !!!
FACTSSSSSS!!!!!
Exactly. What a POS for ignoring the kids
I was a kid once and let me tell you, back then, adults just dismissed kids and shat on them. I'm glad people today actually take kids seriously.
I know a school bus driver who was in a similar sutuation. When crossing the tracks with enough room to spare, a car went around him, cut in front on him, and stopped - forcing him to stop sooner with the bus too close to the RR tracks. Traffic was backed up, the signals were activated, and the bus driver 'pushed' the car to allow clearance for his bus. No train/bus collision but when the police came to the car/bus accudent .... the driver of the car recieved the ticket.
I lived in Cary when it happened. I was leaving my home to make sales calls when I noticed people getting off the train in tears at the Cary station. After the crash the train reversed back to Cary to clear the passengers. I had no idea what was going on till later at a customers business I heard about it. It was a sad time to say the least.
I remember this. She did not open the doors & listen, like they are suppose to before crossing. Neither did she have a decency or commonsense to move forward off the tracks. All the while the children were pleading with her to do so. Nor would she open the doors & let the children run off the bus to be saved.
She panicked and froze. Women do not do well in high stress situations. Not only did she not hear the horn form the train, she didnt see the light had already turned green.
I don't think those rules exist before then or at least they where not heavily in forced
@@dezznutz3743
Nah sorry that’s not good enough. “She didn’t hear, she didn’t see…” IT WAS HER JOB TO OPEN HER EYES AND EARS and keep these kids safe.
so sad! My Mom drove a 40 foot school bus for around 10 years. She loved her job. In those years she had 2 accidents. Both were the other drivers fail to stop(hit the back end of bus). She thought the kids she drove to school, were like her own, and would treat them like it. Little treats for Holidays and such.. She would have not cross the tracks without making sure she had room. Better be late, than never make it. I feel bad for all involved.
Don't let dumb things like traffic signals do the thinking for you. Keep your head on a swivel and do whatever's clever.
-Dad
ikr? Cops will gladly forgive someone running a red light if it means fewer corpses. The bus driver was not paying attention.
Bus driver should have been found guilty and convicted for the accident and the deaths.
I started riding a bus not too long after this incident and I remember how my mom and dad had a hard time not driving me to school . Thankfully the railroad was only industrial and didn't go past the string of factories through each county. Still,I see why it would unnerve them.
THANK YOU for speaking slowly and clearly. It helps us older folks. So many hosts speak fast.
I remember this making the national news. In Minnesota, where I live, laws have been proposed requiring trains to go 35mph/56kph through cities and towns rather than full “highway” speed if they are within the towns themselves, often citing this exact accident. The opponents always say, “That will never happen here.” Until it does.
ha what would that do 90 mph 60, 30 or even 10 mph it’s still a 200 ton machine shit
Limiting train speed does little to nothing with that difference in mass. Having drivers aware of the clearences of their vehicles and not designing flankly asinine crossings like this one might help, though.
@@captainufo4587 I care to disagree, 35mph means the crash will be bad but not like hitting at full speed of 60mph+
That's simple physics, the kinetic energy imparted by the train will be less at lower speeds.
@@jordanhicks5131 th-cam.com/video/j2eFyu8pT9M/w-d-xo.html
This is a 50km/h impact on the side of a car, by a puny cart that stops basically immediately, and has a fraction of the inertial mass of a train. Trains are huge, heavy, and will plow through a school bus or a car like it's butter. Let alone that at slower speed, there's higher changes that the train derails, injuring or killing even more people (imagine an 80 ton passenger car toppling over a scarcely 20 ton school bus).
Add on top of that (but I realize this is not a compelling argument because this is Murica, public transport must be shit so we can worship our petrol god) that a commuter service that is slower than a car will impact its viability, and you see why the proposal is useless.
I understand the rule for the trains, but it was not that poor train driver's fault. The fault lies with the bus driver alone.
How absolutely horrifying for those children seeing eminent doom heading for them with no way to get away. Just heart wrenching. I pray they are resting peacefully all these years later and that their loved ones and all the other children who were involved have healed in their bodies and souls. My daughter was just a year and a few months old at that time and I just couldn’t imagine the soul wrenching pain that the parents off all involved have had to deal with. 💔🙏🏻😞
Something like this almost happened to me a year ago. The bus driver stopped the front of the bus right under the arm on the rail road sign and the arm slowly went down hitting the hood of the bus and she just sat there letting it happen while kids were screaming at her to back up. A kid on the bus took a picture of it while it happened. Its on Fox News, just look up School bus almost hit by passing train. It happened in Redfield Arkansas
Edit: She did get fired, which thank god cause she was such an evil and mean lady.
So very glad you're ok!
She sounds slow or suicidal maybe why wouldn't she just back up
That's crazy! Good thing everyone's ok
No one dreams of being a bus driver. Her life probably hasn't gone the way she wished.
@@godzillaqueen some of us have nightmares about being bus drivers though! I'm a teacher and my school is always trying to recruit the teachers to be bus drivers. Ha! You couldn't pay me enough.
Six seconds I'm studying for my CDL now and I just don't think that big school bus would have cleared or got up to speed in time to make it across. I will not be trying to debunk it but it just doesn't seem the set up with the tracks and lights were thought out to well. And screaming kids and teen's did help the situation out. Thanks for the upload 🖤🤎👍🏾
I cannot believe you don't have a million times the subscribers that you have, you are such an amazing story teller ❤️
This always stood out for me; I live down stream of Fox River. Until recently, I had never heard of this. Hearing Fox River just jolts me like hearing your name in a crowd.
*Post edit-
I now understand why the school bus’s safety laws and train crossings seem so intense here. I’m not sure about other places, but I know it’s for the better.
I just moved out of the area earlier this year and I crossed this intersection every time I went to visit my best friend.
Never knew this. Creepy. Heartbreaking. And yes, that intersection sucked.
Also, like everyone else keeps saying, please keep making new videos! Your video on Travis the chimp is what brought me here, and I plan to stick around for a while :)
Just discovered this channel and I’m loving it!
Very sad 😥 . .. Wow look at all the subs . Delighted for you . Well deserved. I've been here since the start 👊
Thank you! It's gone a bit crazy lately with subs. Thank you for being there from the start 😊
@@WellINever your very welcome. Thanks for the hard work . Love from Dublin 🇮🇪
@@WellINever Ought to be a "M" or "B" instead of a "K" after subs. You're Hitchcock reincarnated.
Poor train driver, he couldn't do a damn thing to stop the crash. The bus driver, what a stupid woman. If the train is coming you pull into the intersection. Cars can stop. Trains can't. It's not a difficult choice.
Its says alot about them as people. The train engineer, even though he isn't at fault, feels the brunt of it and tried his best to warn the driver. The bus lady should've have at least publicly faced the crowd and apologized if she truly felt remorsefully and guilty.
Tragic accident. I didn't know the driver of the bus was a safety officer or something. Doesn't that mean the person who holds the Stop sign at cross walks? School bus driver's in my school day's 1983-1995 were not safe in any manner. I road the bus 1.5 hrs to and from school. Idk how we made it. Stuck in ditches with 2 feet of snow on the road. They didn't cancel school over an inch of snow like they do now.
I grew up in Illinois and went to a near by school. This disaster still effects these communities I honestly can't remember any bus I was on crossing train tracks if they could help it. Everyone effected by this tragedy deserve all the love and kindness in the world.... with the exception of the bus driver who still blames the kids to this day.
Thank you
I've watched a few short clips of train-vehicle collisions at crossings and I have to say that most are preventable. Motorists often are in a hurry, or do not show any caution at crossings, or are ignorant of how to behave at crossings.
Every Chicago-area person who is around my age will never forget this. After this horrendous accident bus drivers changed the way they drove over tracks. Now for some reason they always stop at the tracks open the doors and look both ways. That started for me when I was in fourth grade back when this happened.
I remember this story. The vigil a couple of days after..the names of those who perished were read out loud..and their friends loudly sobbing..one of the most heartbreaking stories in the Chicagoland area. Oh, for those outside of the US, in the beginning, a yellow school bus is near a mountain. Just to be clear, there are no mountains in the Chicago area at all. It was a horrendous story.
this video, like many others, fills up time with stock/other video clips to tell the story.
Considering this happened in 1995, the only actual video would come from camcorders and news crews.
A local now, could provide more accurate footage, but as the intersection was changed in response to this tragedy, it wouldn't be very useful for telling the story.
Ha! I saw those mountains as well. We could only wish for mountains here in the flatlands. 😆
Horrific accident for everyone involved that’s so sad 😞
I have no idea how you aren't a channel with 1million+ viewers! Amazing videos and super underrated. Keep up the great work mate!
As someone of the same county, I'll tell you, bus safety is singlehandedly one of the largest priorities of school districts in the area. Bus drivers are so attuned to the safety of their busses and the students aboard them. I truthfully think this is what makes the bus drivers in the area so passionate about what they do. Illinois as a state doesn't do much when it comes to train track vs person safety despite something like this happening not so long ago. It's been half a decade since I've used a school bus but I will tell you, the drivers love those kids more than anything. Bus accidents are no joke, especially when kids are involved.
Do we know the name of the nurse who was first to respond? I’d call her a hero but even that feels like an understatement. She deserves recognition.
your channel is extremely addicting, keep up the phenomenal content!
I am brand new to your work. It’s excellently put together and entertaining. Thank you
The poor train driver. No words. I'm sure he's been haunted for life.
There are crossings like that in Australia to this day,they require a vehicle to activate the traffic light but don’t provide enough space for more than a car. An experienced bus or truck driver would rather do battle with another low speed car or truck instead of a train, but clearly the bus driver driver was not experienced and therefore should not be blamed. I feel for the families of all involved, but I would never blame the bus driver
I'll blame anyone that thinks students are beneath them. If someone would react differently between depending on whether they were driving a school bus or a city bus, when the passengers are screaming about a train, and assume that students are just being rowdy and should be ignored, then I place 100% of the blame on them.
I absolutely loathe people that are incapable of speaking to a teenager as their equal, people that are prejudiced against youth, and speak in a condescending way.
I don't care if they're parents, teachers, or any other type of person that legally holds authority, nor do I care how commonplace this type of thinking is, I will always hate people that engage in that type of thinking and behavior.
At 15:33:01 on 24 October 2002 passenger train 5AL8 collided with a car and scheduled bus on the Salisbury Interchange controlled level crossing on Park Terrace. As a result of the accident four people were killed and 26 injured. A small sedan car and the bus were effectively destroyed.
I was there to see it happen, it's a birthday I wish I could forget
Of all the excuses listed, the one i refuse to accept is the DRIVER being distracted and missing the green light. The bus was not stuck on the tracks, she caused the wreck due to NOT GOING when the light turned green. Im a truck driver and can tell you, it is OUR responsibility to PAY ATTENTION. Distractions are not an excuse. Anyone who is that easily distracted shouldnt be allowed to drive a HOT DOG CART, let alone a school bus full of children.
I’m so glad I’ve found this channel. Your videos are excellent and you are a fabulous narrator!
Such a tragedy. Thank you for the great videos. So glad I found your channel!
This is heartbreaking 💔
I remember when this happened. I am from McHenry, which is close to Fox River Grove. This crash had a huge impact on everyone around McHenry County
Thanks for an interesting video.
I have to wonder how the driver who overslept felt. If he/she hadn't overslept, then the less competent driver never would have been driving that day.
I'm still not clear why the driver didn't move forward if the light really turned green six seconds before the crash. Is there any testimony from the driver about what she saw? If the light was green, why wasn't she moving the bus forward? Does she claim that she didn't see the light turn green? Does she claim that the rules prevented her from moving the bus when kids were standing and that kids were standing? Does she even remember what happened?
She probably turned around and adopted a dumb attitude of she's not gonna move the bus til the students be quiet, and probably didn't believe the students one bit and thought she was above them. I absolutely hate people like that and hate that she got off.
@@harbingerofwarx995 The problem is that we don't really KNOW that this is what happened. There are also so many other errors of judgement involved in this incident that she would surely not be held fully at fault in any case.
I suspect she never talked about this because, like you, she herself feels she deserved more of a punishment than she actually received. To be honest, I would find the constant judgement of the community, along with one's own sense of guilt, to be a heavy punishment.
@@k.c1126 she's lucky that folks like you have all this sympathy for her. A lot of people seem to save their feelings for the parents who lost their children. Not only did the kids yell, the train blew its horn. There is zero excuse for ignoring those cues except that she ASSUMED the situation wasn't serious. Problem is - she was wrong. Now, she has to deal with the consequences of her choice - and while I'm not for harassment and threats, I have no problem with her being excluded otherwise. Some things are unforgivable, particularly when it actually affects you. It's easier to tell folks to brush off the death of a loved one when you have no personal interest.
@@harbingerofwarx995 Sadly so many school drivers are like that. As soon as they get the slighted inkling that you're "disrespecting" them they get indignant. Even had a sub driver threaten to sit on the tracks if one of the riders didn't get quiet; the student he pointed out was legitimately mute we were also in elementary school. How she wasn't sued out the ass is beyond me.
@@juniortofu I was lucky enough to only have that kind of bus driver for like 1 year of my life. The rest of the time I had excellent bus drivers.
Though my favorite bus driver probably could have been easily fired, because he was very loose with rules, made dirty jokes with the students all the time, and would shout and curse at other drivers that did things like block intersections. So many great memories of him and he would side with the students he drove any day, never yelled at any of us even if we were rowdy.
I just started watching your Channel and I can’t get enough 💙
There are still a very high number of very hazardous railroad crossings that need to be addressed. Another one is Grand Avenue just west of Harlem Avenue in Elmwood Park Illinois where 15 cars were on the railroad tracks trapped by traffic gridlock. 15 vehicles were hit. Miraculously there were no fatalities but some injuries though. The train here was traveling as fast as the Metra Train that went through Fox River Grove Illinois.
How is something that is completely preventable labeled as an accident?
Thank you for the work on these Videos, the pictures, the footage... it makes watching them very enjoyable! 🙂👍
Thank you for watching! :)
Wonder if traffic signals weren’t so delayed near train crossings. It seems most incidents are contributed with irresponsible drivers taking chances on these crossings with zero tolerance for danger and traffic signals taking excessively long time to change to allow traffic to continue.
I have noticed signals are terrible near train crossings and they seem to purposely set to allow slow transition.
Driver should’ve paid attention to the road or hear the panic from students to move the bus.
Ugh this makes me so angry! Such senseless loss of life. Even if the light wasn't green, I'd run the risk of a vehicle vs. bus collision verses a train vs. bus collision.
*How come the bus driver didn’t go to prison ????*
Because she didn't cause the accident: she stopped where the traffic light told her to stop. There was no way for her to see that she was 8 inches over the track or that the train extended 3 feet out from the tracks. The intersection was poorly designed after they widened the highway, not leaving enough room for a large vehicle. This could have happened to any vehicle or any driver. It was a ticking time bomb.
@@rachelstratman1405 there was only 30 feet between the road and train. You shouldn't be driving anything you don't know the size of... and this is why. For one, there is supposed to be at least 20 feet of clearance, and she knew full well she didn't have that. She thought she squeezed it in. Bad judgment all around, and she absolutely deserves the criticism. I don't understand this support for a complete lack of common sense.
@@rachelstratman1405everything on Earth is a ticking time bomb to the careless and impatient. We're not talking about the bus breaking down at the wrong time, we're talking about negligent behavior. This should encourage people to be more thoughtful and consider their surroundings more, but no. It's easier to blame the poorly designed tracks.
@@TheNelly77 - *Thank You!!!!* 💯💯💯💯
@@SurahOnline I notice that every time negligent behavior causes preventable deaths, the excuses overflow. Of course, nobody wanted anyone to die. However, people need to stop prioritizing time and money over safety - but we refuse to do that, right?
They are NEVER supposed to go on the track 🤦🏼♀️ This woman murdered them with her carelessness! That thumbnail is terrifying!!
There are procedures in place for crossing train tracks. All students must be silent, driver opens window & door so he/she can hear & see clearly & you NEVER cross a track unless you have room to clear the track entirely with room to spare. If a vehicle has to be on the other side of the track to trigger the light - use a different route. We had an intersection like this where I drove & it was instant termination if you tried to cross the tracks at that intersection. This was a driver error. She should have laid on her horn & driven forward to clear the tracks & hoped she didn't injure anyone in front of her. Just my opinion.
this channel is so good i’m so happy i found this!!
Bus crashes hit a tad personal for me, I've never been in one thankfully, but as a Canadian, bus or plane crashes are legitimately the leading cause of death of hockeh players here, every 1-3 years there's a huge tragedy as a bus full crashes or a plane goes down. Most recent was the Humboldt Broncos out in Saskatchewan. A semi-truck (18 wheeler and full trailer) turned infront of the bus, killing 16 young boys almost immediately.
Was reminded of the Humboldt crash, when the narration of this tragic story began, only this time it was the truck driver’s fault, as well as the problematic 4 way stop. If I recall, there was a cut back on some of the trees that apparently blocked the truck driver’s view of the road, where the stop sign is. Too little, too late and it makes you wonder what other roads out there, may be problematic and lead to a future disaster.🇨🇦
@@yvellebradley2502 ...the truck driver ran the stop sign. The bus had no stop sign. Visibility was clear.
The truck did not turn in front of the bus, he ran a stop sign.
The substitute had so much time to prevent it, how sad.
I remember this extremely well. I was 6 years old and attended another school district the next town over ,but I remember roads being blocked off, a massive media frenzy and dozens and dozens of people being there. I remember the news. I remember the pictures they were showing. I know that railroad crossing very well. It haunts me to this day. So unfortunate for the families.
My favourite new channel I've found. We have to get you better well known sir you are an amazing story teller and have brilliant contents. Good luck sir. X
as a kid in school, i was always blown away by the way a school bus will stop, partially on train crossings, open the door, & the driver looks down the tracks, im guessing to rely on the drivers eyes, to cross instead of trusting the crossing lights. the problem with this, is the driver is much less reliable than the lights, and the other problem is the bus couldnt get off the track in time, if the lights had malfunctioned, since it had stopped, meaning it would be much safer to just cross if the lights arent signaling. maybe its different now, i was out of school by the time this incident happened, but buses were very unsafe when i was in school, there were 100% no seatbelts, the seats werent even attached to the frames, we used to throw the seats out the windows as a joke.
I trained and drove a mini school bus for a short time back in 2018?
We were to stop before the track; it’s actually an exact/precise point and open the door for the visual and auditory senses. I’m with you in that we need to put a bit more trust in the computers/sensors that would trigger types of warnings.
Put my faith 100% in those things this past summer while visiting an amusement park for the first time in 30 years 😅 and riding these unbelievable roller coasters.
Seeing these kids at the controls and wondering/worrying about every possible scenario while on line for an hour 😂My son assured me that they have engineers walking/checking around, but that it’s the coasters ‘brain’/computer switches that secure (not guarantee) our safety.
He must have been mighty convincing because I rode every one!
I’ve not watched this video yet….don’t know if I will. Am just reading comments.
They stop at the tracks, not on them. The door is opened so they can hear if a train is coming.
The drivers cross to bear always. If the original driver went as scheduled...would this have still happened?
no. Trains ran on the hour. 40 minutes earlier and there would be no train to hit the bus at the time.
God so many things about the bus driver frustrate me so much. It's called being aware of our surroundings when driving a vehicle..especially one that has 30 children on there that aren't yours!
Whether or not the kids were screaming or not shouldn't have deterred her from noticing the light had turned green indicating it was safe to go.
Then also not having the decency to front the public and/or the parents about what you did....honestly....RIP poor kids.
NEVER NEVER NEVER ALLOW AN UNTRAINED BUS DRIVER TO DRIVE STUDENTS! The district was negligent. You can say you have experience all you want, but if you aren't a trained bus driver, you have no business driving a bus. The driver should've listened to the kids.
OmG.. WHY was the Bus Driver NOT Charged & Arrested for this!??!
I Can't believe so Many CHILDREN WERE KILLED & Many More Suffering Lifelong Mental & Physical Injuries, Yet She Got Away With *CAUSING THIS HORRIFIC INCIDENT* due to her Recklessness & Disregarding Those Poor Innocent Helpless Children who were PLEADING FOR THEIR LIVES But Were TRAPPED in that bus & Could do Nothing as they WATCHED that TRAIN Smash Into Them!!!!
How Could she NOT HEAR a Damn TRAIN BLARING it's HORN? How did She NOT NOTICE that the CROSSING ARM had HIT THE TOP of the BUS?
How Could she NOT SEE the Damn TRAIN BARRELING TOWARDS the BUS?
HOW COULD SHE IGNORE The CRIES of the CHILDREN?
CRIES Which were Filled with ABSOLUTE FEAR, CRIES Filled with the FEAR of CERTAIN DEATH? YOU CAN *NOT* Mistake those HORRIFIC CRIES With CHILDREN JOKING!!!!
Why Didn't She see that the LIGHT WAS GREEN FOR 6 SECONDS?!
All she had to do was *LITERALLY* Just TURN her head to the Side and she would've SEEN the TRAIN!!!!!
Those of you advocating that the speed of the train is the major fault...does it mean nothing to you at all that the driver put this bus in harm's way? The driver, it is clearly stated, was trying to make the light turn green and kept inching forward to do so. Whether or not the driver was aware the bus had not cleared the tracks is totally irrelevant. Yes, those people died needlessly, but it was neither the train nor the train engineer's fault. And no...I have never worked for a railroad.
Substitute bus driver didn't see the green light telling her that she can GO because she was distracted by all of the students screaming at her and pleading with her to GO!!! Yeah lady, your $hit show of a story makes complete sense! Who the hell gave this woman a drivers license? And who the hell let this woman drive a bus load of children???!!! I'm glad she blames herself, she should blame herself.
Arrest the driver for a degree of manslaughter