Federal safety officials will be getting a bird’s-eye view of the impact of a New Jersey law that requires school buses to have seat belts for passengers. They will trying to determine the effect of the restraints during an accident last week that killed an 11-year-old triplet girl.
Last Thursday a school bus and a dump truck in Burlington County, N.J., collided, an accident that not only left the girl dead but also seriously hurt her two triplet sisters, as well as an 11-year-old boy, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/02/chesterfield_school_bus_crash.html
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the accident, which took place at a four-way intersection in Chesterfield, N.J., at the crossing of Route 528 and Old York Road.
The Ledger reported that the NTSB wants to study what impact seat belts had in the aftermath of the crash. New Jersey is one of only six states that require seat belts for passengers in school buses.
Some of the students on the bus in New Jersey were wearing seat belts, but the NTSB is trying to determine which passengers were wearing them and what effect that had on their safety, according to The Ledger.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/02/bus_crash_the_hunt_for_clues_t.html
At abour 8 a.m. Thursday the dump truck was traveling on Route 528 when it apparently went through an amber light and hit the bus in the driver’s side, The Ledger reported. The school bus then hit a pole, which then partially went into the bus.
Isabelle Tezsla, one of the triplet daughters of New Jersey State Trooper Sgt. Anthony Tezsla, was killed in the crash. Her sister Natalie was no longer in critical condition, but had improved and is now in stable condition. But the third triplet, Sophie, was still in critical condition, as was 11-year-old Jonathan Zdybel, according to The Ledger.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/02/one_chesterfield_sister_is_sta.html
Authorities haven’t filed any charges in the accident.
