INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: BRIEFS
NTSB ISSUES PRELIMINARY REPORT ON DEADLY CALIFORNIA MOTORCOACH CRASH
California that killed 10, including five high school students. NTSB officials maintain it could take months to determine the cause of the fiery collision. According to the report, a 2007 Volvo
T
truck tractor in combination with two 28- foot trailers operated by FedEx Corporation was traveling southbound in the right lane of Interstate 5 (I-5) in Orland, Calif., at about 5:40 a.m. Pacific on April 10, when a 2014 Setra motorcoach operated by Silvera- do Stages Inc. was traveling northbound on I-5 in the right lane. Te motorcoach was transporting a driver, three adult chaperones and 43 high school students who were part
he National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on April 25 that offers more details on the fatal truck–motorcoach crash in northern
of a convoy from Los Angeles area schools en route to Spring Preview Day at Califor- nia State University at Humboldt. For reasons yet to be determined, the
FedEx combination vehicle moved to the left and crossed the 58-foot-wide center median, entering the opposite lanes and sideswiping a white 2013 Nissan Altima with a driver and one passenger on board before slamming into the charter bus. “Following the impact with the passenger
car, the combination vehicle collided with the motorcoach, and both vehicles departed the highway to the east. A post-crash fire ensued,” the report stated. “Te front of the motorcoach received significant damage that exposed the vehicle’s interior.” Investigators confirmed the two drivers and eight motorcoach passengers were fatally
injured “as a result of the collision.” Te other passengers suffered multiple injuries of varying degrees. School buses aided in transporting the survivors to a Red Cross shelter (pictured). Te NTSB report provided no details about why the FedEx driver veered off the freeway. Mark Rosekind, an NTSB board mem-
ber, told STN that investigators might be collecting information for months. He said they would examine factors such as highway features and design, human performance (i.e., driver’s work and rest schedule), the motor carrier company, survival factors, vehicle safety and fire safety. Investigators are also trying to determine whether the passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
NEW ILLINOIS STATE DIRECTOR TAKES REINS AT DEPARTMENT OF ED During this period he also served as an Illinois Association of
Mike Slife took over for the recently retired Cinda Meneghetti as the principal transportation consultant in the Illinois Department of Education’s Division of Funding and Disbursement Services, making him also the new state director of student transportation. Slife was most recently the director of transporta-
tion at Harlem Consolidated Schools, District 122, in Machesney Park, north of Rockford and about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. From April 2006 through last September, he oversaw an annual transportation budget of more than $5 million and more than 130 employees.
26 School Transportation News June 2014
Pupil Transportation board member and has been the vice president for the past two years. With IAPT, he helped run state conferences and was responsible for the state school bus roadeo. Slife started in the industry as a terminal manager for the Rock-
ford Public Schools, District 205, in April 2005. Tere, he earned his school bus CDL while overseeing program route supervisors and 295 unionized bus drivers. Meneghetti officially retired from the Illinois DOE on Feb. 28
after working in the Division of Funding and Disbursement for the past decade. She is using retirement to take care of her elderly parents and her 11-year-old son.
AP PHOTO/THE RECORD SEARCHLIGHT, GREG BARNETTE
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