酒驾事故

And all of a sudden, I remember hearing a big crash

Then all of a sudden, we all jumped in the aisle

it wasn't the initial fire that came in and

hurt most kids

It was the heat that came here that was just so unbearable

that start melting your skin

And then next and you remember all the kids just started screaming and pushing and just fighting each other to get out

Because we were just so hot inside of the bus

This is one of the survivors

Quinton Higgins Jr.'s painful recollection of accident

He was only 15 at the time

But there were inevitable after-effects

The damage to his lungs alone has plagued him for the rest of his life.

May 14, 1988

a church in Radcliffe, Kentucky, US

prepared for an event

Four church members led children

of several high schools nearby

to go to Kings Island theme park in Ohio

The distance is about 270 kilometers

So that morning, the children were waiting early at the church door and ready to go

The driver of the trip was John Pearman.

He's a local court clerk,

working part-time as an associate pastor in a church

Early morning on May 14

John was busy counting the numbers

It turned out that there were 66 passengers in addition to himself

They boarded the bus and went to the park together.

The kids were so happy along the way

They seem to have endless energy

so they had a very exciting day at the amusement park

It was not until the evening that

they set off reluctantly and returned to Kentucky

After about an hour of driving

John found that the oil was running low

So after filling up the gas tank at the nearby gas station

they kept going

The other side, Larry Wayne Mahoney, 34, just came out of a bar

He's been drinking with his friends all night

As usual, he can't drive

But he didn't care about it

He's overconfident in his drinking and driving skills

without even the slightest hesitation

straight up his black pickup

But the nightmare began

10:55pm,

children's bus was been driving in the outskirts of Carrollton

heading south on Interstate 71

Suddenly Larry's black pickup appeared in front of the bus

and came straight ahead

Driver John didn't have time to react at all.

hit it directly

in the process

The rear left of the pickup was rotated 90 degrees

and hit the left side of another Cadillac sedan

The car then hit the bus in the same direction

Fatal crash that resulted in three-vehicle crash

But these were not the most important

The pickup truck hit the front right of the bus,

directly pierced the fuel tank of the bus

This tank had just been filled with gasoline.

There were more than 200 liters

The fire was ignited in an instant

And even more frightening

Bus door was smashed beyond recognition

and no longer working

There was also no second exit door in the car

67 lives at stake

I believed that some of you guys can not help but have doubts

Normally, a bus that can take 66 people should not be too small.

Shouldn't there be front and rear doors?

Why did the bus only have one front door?

Also, even if the door was broken

At least you can break the window to escape.

What was the condition of the bus at the time?

In fact, the vehicle involved was a retired school bus.

The structure of this school bus is that there's only one door in the front.

There is an emergency exit though.

This emergency exit is usually not used.

And at that time

A cooler was placed just ahead of the aisle

As for the windows

The school bus was originally designed for students

The quality must be eligible

Plus no broken window devices

It's almost impossible to break a window with human power alone

As for the school bus itself

it's 1977 Ford B700 chassis

That is to say

This school bus was retired after 10 years of service

it's bought by the church

and continued to use it as a bus for a whole year

Although it is a retired car

But its mechanical quality is still good

during the year the church was using

and they often did the maintenance

New tires were specially replaced two weeks before the accident.

they also checked the suspension and steering components

In fact, it all seems to be no problem

Except for a device placed in front of the emergency exit

but the door was still openable

But you have overlooked one very important thing

There's one exit and one passage for more than 60 children

with fire and smoke

You should know what's going to happen next.

In fact, in the initial crash,

No other passengers were injured but the driver

At this time, the children also realized that there was a car accident

They ran to the aisle to check out

But who would have expected less than 20 seconds

A heat wave was coming

The kids were crying and screaming for mother

Because the accident and the fire happened almost at the same time

the driver John picked up a small fire extinguisher immediately

trying to put out the fire

Children also quickly flocked down the aisles

following the orders of a few adults

evacuating from the rear emergency exit

But the fire extinguisher ran out all at once.

John can't seem to get the fire under control.

So gave up

There was smoke inside the bus

Some children had started to faint

John told the kids not to crowd

and went to the emergency exit in line up

Unfortunately, it didn't take a few steps

some of the children collapsed on the ground unconsciously

And the cooler of the bus just mentioned

exacerbated the problem of aisle blockage

As more and more, the emergency exits were completely blocked.

Some people with consciousness

can only wander desperately in the front of the carriage

In fact, many people in the car tried to smash the windows at that time.

but it didn't work at all

And those who fled first tried to get all the unconscious kids

out of the emergency exit

They had one foot on the bumper

holding a small arm

desperately pulling them out

Many passersby also stopped to help them

It's a pity that this rescue only lasted 4 minutes

There's about 40 passengers were successfully rescued

But soon the whole bus was completely on fire.

they can no longer get close to the vehicle

They can just watch the fire devoured the rest

In the end, all 27 people in the car died in the sea of ​​​​fire

Before long, firefighters and police in Kentucky

rushed to the scene

they put out the fire

The survivors were taken to the hospital for treatment

However, the identification of the corpse was difficult

Because they've been burned beyond recognition

Some even disappeared and only one wallet left

It's understood that because the structure of the school bus is strong

No one died in a crash

And the bodies were almost piled up in the emergency exits

That means, they were all burned alive while fleeing

Or suffocated by the smoke

We can not imagine how much pain in the last moments of their lives

After the accident

people were outraged at the actions of perpetrator Larry

Driving in the wrong direction on the road in the middle of the night

Even more incredible was that

Larry after the crash still looking confused

Apparently he didn't realize he'd gotten into a catastrophic accident.

After testing, Larry's blood alcohol level was 0.24%

At the time, Kentucky's statutory standard was only 0.1%.

and that's still two hours after the crash.

As for drunk driving,

It's not the first time Larry had made mistakes

He was arrested for DUI in 1984

he paid a $300 fine

Even his driver's license was suspended for 6 months

But the fines didn't make Larry learn the lesson

And outrageously, at the scene of the accident

Police also found unopened beer

and drained beer cans

Larry woke up from the hospital the next day

He had no idea what happened last night

It's really ridiculous

Alcohol is really harmful

According to the statistics

The victims included three adults

The rest are between 10 and 14 years old

The oldest is only 17 years old

Among the survivors

one man was amputated below the knee

Another 10 suffered severe burns

Only 6 passengers were not injured

Of course they were lucky enough to avoid skin trauma

but psychological trauma

for all parties involved and their families

was inescapable

"They say they hate me

and they say I'm a murderer.

I feel like everyone is staring at me

I know what's on their minds. "

Here's Larry explaining

why did he always avoid public

In fact, since the accident

Larry was rarely in front of the camera

He had always refused to be interviewed

expressing himself ashamed

and he will reflect in prison

Due to the bad nature of the accident

soon spreaded throughout many towns

Larry was also charged with 27 counts of second-degree manslaughter

16 counts of second-degree battery and 27 counts of wanton endangerment

He was eventually sentenced to 16 years in prison

After the accident

people all focused on the word "drink driving"

Although this is an important cause of the accident

the design of the bus also exists obvious security risk

This is also not to be ignored

The first thing we need to know is that

the bus that was hit was produced on March 23, 1977

After these 9 days

New federal safety standards take effect about the school bus

According to the new regulations

School buses manufactured after April 1, 1977

was needed to improve the connection between the front and the body

and provided better seat protection

More critical is to improve the fuel protection system

This is the key point of the whole tragedy.

The crash itself wasn't serious.

But puncturing the fuel tank is the most deadly.

The results of investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board

also pointed out the fuel tank of the bus lacked protection measures

Plus the seats are constructed of flammable materials

The fire is unstoppable

So have you noticed that

all public transport windows are equipped with safety hammer

For in case of emergency,

passengers can escape quickly

It's a pity that there was no such safety measure at the time

The windows are of good quality and locked up

There's only one emergency exit at the rear of the vehicle

Even the seating arrangement is a problem

First, the seat is too wide, resulting in too narrow aisle

Second, the emergency exit was blocked by some seats and coolers

which reduced the area of aisle

Even in non-emergency situations

After the bus was full of people

passengers got off at a slower pace

Not to mention a crisis.

Since the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation was published

People were calling for eliminating

all school buses produced before April 1, 1977

If they really did that,

according to incomplete statistics

about 22% of school buses

were not in compliance with the new regulations nationwide

In addition, on this basis

all new school buses to have stronger fuel tanks

and seats made of flame retardant materials

and more convenient emergency exits

especially Kentucky

there's more stringent regulations

School buses needed more than 9 emergency exits

Fire retardant materials were used for the floors and seats inside

A cage must also be installed around the fuel tank

And be sure to use diesel as fuel

Of course after the accident

In addition to improved bus safety standards

Measures to combat drunk driving were also on the agenda

For example, several states had urgently revised their drinking and driving standards.

they set the blood alcohol concentration standard at 0.08%

And the punishment for drunk driving will be more severe

At the same time

Larry in prison became a 'model prisoner'

he was well behaved

and attended a sobriety

After 9 and a half years of service

That is September 9, 1999

Larry was out early