The Congers Bus-Train Collision | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

[@larrycummings7300]

I am a retired locomotive engineer. In the 90’s I had a school bus not stop for the crossing. Unlike the accident in this video we were traveling at 57mph. As soon as the bus started over the crossing I put the train in emergency. We missed the rear end of the bus by inches, so close I had to ask the brakeman if we hit it. In the video the brakeman commented he could see the children’s faces. I could see the older kids getting up and running to the front of the bus. The small children were staring up at me. I can see them to this day. I remember trying to stand when we got stopped but my legs were shaking so bad I had to sit back down. We radioed it in and I was later told the superintendent of schools and the county sheriff met the driver at the bus barn and fired her.

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

Good on you for reporting it - I wrote the script for this, and I was really glad to find at least some testimony from the train crew. While most of the papers report the grieving families and the traumatized rescuers, the train crews often go forgotten. I'm hoping to highlight this issue in future. I'm glad that your situation didn''t end in absolute catastrophe, but I'm sorry you had to have your heart stopped that way.

[@rocknewtonfilsterwilly7364]

She should have been charged with multiple counts of reckless endangerment.

[@157RANDOM]

Having to plug it seeing someone on the tracks ahead is the worst feeling because at that point, you've done all you can do. I am a conductor, and every time we have someone dangerously close to the tracks, I am just praying I don't have to plug it, or, in the worst case scenario, go out and deal with the aftermath. I have been very fortunate to have not hit anyone yet. Close calls, but nothing major thank goodness.

[@victoriaeads6126]

Forget firing, that driver should have been brought up on reckless driving charges AT LEAST. I'm so sorry that all involved have to live with that trauma 😳

[@victoriaeads6126]

Excellent writing, thank you. It can't be easy researching these events. I appreciate the compassionate, respectful tone of this channel,and the emphasis on lessons learned...or not...as opposed to salacious sensationalism.

[@classicmicroscopy9398]

As horrendous as this event was, it was a miracle that 43 of those on board managed to survive albeit with unimaginably terrible injuries.

[@ethribin4188]

My thoughts exactly. I found myself sighing in relief when I heard "only" 3 died in the crash. Only to realize that thats not a relief.

[@darkkonoha5865]

How is that a miracle? 5 died, many were seriously injured, and it was a bus of children. What part of that is a miracle? What an insanely insensitive and out of touch thing to say. This is equally stupid and insensitive as saying that a house burns down and kills several people, but a baby survives with 3rd degree burns and also the Bible doesn't burn too, so it's a miracle.

[@EclecticDD]

@@ethribin4188 2 more died later

[@Monkforilla]

Unimaginable? Are you just saying things ?

[@vanCaldenborgh]

@@Monkforilla I think, meant is: "I don't want to imagine", like children losing limbs. Terrible.

[@melissapowell1841]

Thank you for giving the rail crew POV. My father was a brakeman and was involved in a few collisions with cars and it haunted him. They watch helplessly then often get yelled at by witnesses for not stopping sooner. Often there is also a derailment. Trains are heavy and can't stop quickly. Don't put yourself and the crew in danger. Don't play chicken with a train.

[@quillmaurer6563]

This seems to be an under-considered viewpoint, I've heard such stories from that vantage point a few times in various railfan-related stuff. Trains are seen as soulless behemoths, forgetting that there is always someone driving it. I can't imagine a more horrific feeling, bearing down on someone and being unable to do anything about it. I think of those PSAs that say things like "trains will kill you," I always thought there ought to be one from the train driver's perspective, perhaps showing them in therapy talking about the flashbacks they keep having of the accident, the message being "don't do this to train drivers."

[@jackielinde7568]

My mother was a school bus driver, so I got regular safety lectures from her long before I was driving. One of them was that, with the exception of school busses, no rail crew would sacrifice their life and derail a train to stop it from hitting a vehicle on the tracks. And, as a demented rail fan, it makes sense. Between the weight of the train and the time at which the rail crew would see the vehicle, it's already too late. Also, I don't know if this is true, but I heard that there's one fact tying all rail crews in the US and Canada together: "That everyone who works on a train has been through at least one fatality where a person was struck and killed by their train."

[@jpbaley2016]

Most people are ignorant of how difficult it is to stop a massive item. People continue to cut off tractor trailers, knowing they have to stop, causing massive accidents on a daily basis. They fail to understand the greater distance trucks leave between them and the vehicles ahead is because they will need at least twice the stopping distance a car would need. A fully loaded train may require 2 miles to stop. Unless there is 2 miles of straight unblocked track and an engineer can identify an object on the tracks, they won’t know to begin stopping until to late.

[@mudduck1332]

@@jackielinde7568 It isn't so much that everyone "has", but "will have". I think it is usually said that on average it will happen at least once in a railroad career. I know people who have spent their entire career on railroads, 0 incidents. I also know those who haven't even made it out of training before having one. I had less than two years when I had my one and luckily, only incident (suicide). I still have those dreams, albeit, rarely. What bothers me most, is the when is my next one going to be? Tomorrow, or next year, or next decade. It can really mess you up. A loaded school bus is absolutely my greatest fear.

[@daffers2345]

It drives me nuts when people stop on the tracks where I live because of backed-up traffic, despite signs saying not to. It's worse when they honk because someone stopped before the track and there's cars on the other side, because they want to move forward a few feet! Sure, the trains run on schedules, but most people don't know them and a freight train might not be on time that day. DON'T STOP ON RAILROAD TRACKS.

[@georgehill8285]

When the kid said the bus started to accelerate it made me think the driver saw the train and was trying to beat it. Then he tried to cover that up after the fact. Never try to beat a train.

[@healingandgrowth-infp4677]

Or tried to hurry n drive in front of it before he missed the opportunity

[@Norfnorf12]

Exactly what I’m thinking.

[@dfabulous]

​@healingandgrowth-infp4677 There was a garbage truck coming from the opposite direction of the bus that stopped for the train. He blew his horn to warn the driver of the train as well because he noticed the bus wasn't stopping. The kids on the bus saw and heard the train and were yelling train. The conductors on the train saw both the moving bus and the stopped truck. There's no way the driver wasn't aware of the train coming. Highly negligent. Never play beat the train with other people's lives

[@Bruje137]

I remember when I was high school, I was on a field trip. Our bus came to a railroad crossing and as the bus was stopped & doing its checks, the railroad crossing started lighting up. For whatever reason, the bus driver gunned it as the crossing arms were coming down. We made it across, but the teacher was flipping his lid. After the bus had gotten back to the school, I just remember my teacher yelling his head off at the bus driver. All I know is that he called the bus depot and informed the district office. Never saw that driver again.

[@InteriorDesignStudent]

Good! Let's hope they never drove another bus load of kids.

[@Fred-mp1vf]

Sounds to me like he wanted to get fired. In any case he's an idiot.

[@Jason-rn4jk]

It’s horrifying that he never runs out of material for this channel……

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

No system is fool-proof...

[@k.c1126]

Was just thinking this.

[@geocelta1961]

He won't. There is always something. In the past couple of months the palmer chocolate factory in Pennsylvania, USA exploded, killing 7. Then there was the train wreck in India that killed hundreds. Then there was the dam break in Ukraine, the crazy fires in Canada, and the horrific bus accident in Australia. There will always be terrible things he can talk about on here.

[@Fortaker]

With 8 billion people in the world, it's inevitable that many will face all sorts of tragedies. It sucks, but there's no way we can control everything that happens.

[@nzkshatriya6298]

Us humans provide lots of entertainment

[@altarwall]

I just want to say thank you for uploading your own subtitles and not using the auto-generated ones. As someone who relies on subtitles it makes a big difference to have the entire line on screen at once and know that all the info and spelling is correct

[@Mrsjam96]

I agree 💯

[@SummaGirl1347]

Agree - especially since the auto-generated ones are hilariously horrible and often useless.

[@dreadnoughtus2598]

I can't believe only 3 people died in the initial crash and 2 people after. Crazy.

[@Jason-rn4jk]

It’s still 1 too many based off incompetence.

[@bestbadcompany]

Plus the driver died that day but he was punished for 26 years first

[@NYBredBamaFed]

@@bestbadcompany This video doesn’t mention anything about the driver dying due to the crash. He died over 20 years later.

[@DaimosZ]

​​@@NYBredBamaFed The OP meant he died that day metaphorically; Since the accident he helped cause effectively ruined his life.

[@bestbadcompany]

@NYBredBamaFed yeah like the other guy explained 🙄

[@Arissiah]

I say it all the time even with people speeding in their cars, getting there late is better than never getting there at all. I think the worst part of this for me was that the kids knew the train was coming a bit beforehand. They didnt know what was going to happen but they could see it coming

[@Mrsjam96]

Can you imagine how terrifying that would be??

[@madhippy3]

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" Haste makes mistakes

[@bobanob1967]

"Better late in this life than early in the next".

[@dansweda712]

The bus driver had to be the most hated man in town after this tragedy, I'm sure though being a firefighter and knowing the children and families they belonged to, he must have been haunted by his mistake

[@mdatkinson92]

Yeah. As horrendous as it is I can't help but feel sorry for an otherwise good person, showing genuine remorse, his life destroyed by a momentary error that destroyed so many others. I'm not absolving him. I don't need to because nothing can. He will have been broken by this tragic mistake. That's punishment enough.

[@VideoDotGoogleDotCom]

He was a New York City firefighter. What makes you think he lived in Congers or any of the neighboring hamlets?

[@dansweda712]

@@VideoDotGoogleDotCom uh, because they didn't say otherwise, and who would go outside there area to drive a bus? Oh, and who gives a shit, in that town he was probably pretty hated for a while

[@Taragoola]

Yeah man I dunno. Knowing you fucked up and got people killed has to be horrible.

[@VideoDotGoogleDotCom]

​@@dansweda712 Maybe in your village somewhere in the savannah people only work where they live, but in the Western world, people often work pretty far from where they live. Also, dimwit, do you really think he ever went back to that place after the accident? God people are stupid.

[@sara.gem.n.L]

I'm stunned there weren't even more fatalities in this terrible incident! The level crossing in my suburb of Melbourne, Australia was removed last year for safety and traffic congestion reasons.

[@sundoga4961]

Over here in Perth we're doing a program to get rid of all level crossings in the metropolitan area. Probably won't be finished until 2050, but every one that's eliminated makes us all safer.

[@hdng1984]

@@sundoga4961 Interesting. I'll have to google that. What will replace the level crossings, may I ask? Will it just need to be a longer route for the drivers? EDIT: I see they're elevating the railway, that's good. Expensive, but sometimes that's what's needed.

[@sundoga4961]

@@hdng1984 Yup. With our soft, sandy substrate going up is a lot better idea than trying to go down.

[@andrewstevenson118]

I seem to recall about 15 years ago the The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons recommended as many level crossings as possible be closed.

[@OpinionatedMiss]

Hello fellow recipient of Victoria’s Big Build!

[@beccapeck5102]

I thought this would be the 1995 Fox River bus crash where the bus was stopped at a light with the back end of the bus over the rails. As i searched, for the name of that crash, I was shocked to discover how many train / bus crashes have occurred. What a horrible and tragic crash this was!

[@Drummerchef13]

Plainly difficult recently did a video on that one

[@Teverell]

I thought it was going to be that one, too - although he alluded to it at the end of the video, so maybe he will cover that one in the future? Itʻs just shocking that in this case, there was no excuse for it - with the Fox River one, the actual junction of the road had been changed over time and the driver was a substitute who didnʻt know the route, so there were multiple factors in the accident. With the Congers one, thereʻs just no reason at all for it to have happened.

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

You'd be surprised...

[@mournblade1066]

That particular incident inspired the book and film, _The Sweet Hereafter_.

[@Boxermom0317]

@@mournblade1066 Actually, that was inspired by a crash in Alton, Texas in 1989.

[@LockeRobsta]

"...a school bus was in conflict with a train" I wouldn't call it a conflict, more of an overwhelming mismatch.

[@JE-zl6uy]

As my Fireman instructor told our school when it came to large vehicles vs trains: "Does anyone here have a parent or own a real big truck? Like a big truck?" Student: "My dad's got a lifted Dodge 3500!" Firefighter: "That's a real big truck huh? Real sturdy, right?" *Image on screen of a tractor trailer smashed to bits with almost no damage on the train outside of scratches* "That's the largest truck allowed on the road. Kids, if you're ever in the car when your parents are driving, or have the poor judgement to do this yourself and try to cross a railroad crossing illegally... I want you to remember that there is nothing on the road, nothing you can be driving, that will survive a train. It simply does not exist."

[@roseprevost5876]

And the train's always going to win.

[@Rammstein0963.]

I always pointed out to people, HE (the train) weighs about 440,000 lbs. And that's JUST a single engine, you weigh, what, 3,500-4,000...tops? Who you think is winning that?

[@MegaMesozoic]

The only thing that can stop a train is another train coming the other way!

[@TinkSalsa]

​@@MegaMesozoiceven then, both trains keep going, it is just that either one goes off to the side or one goes up above the other

[@tanderson6442]

Oh ya even worse was that hockey team the Humboldt Broncos in Canada that were killed by a semi truck. It killed over half the hockey team consisting of 16-20 year old kids. The bus was unrecognizable. I literally started tearing up when I heard about that happening. I played Jr. hockey as well and remember all the trips we took and can’t even imagine how devastating that would be for everyone in that community.

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

Writing this one was an experience... Reading through all the testimony (there's so much I wanted to add but had to cut for time's sake) hit heavily. As a Railfan and someone who worked with trains in the past, the fact that people even today still don't show the train any respect and pay the price for it, it _really_ makes me unnerved and angry. Stay safe around tracks, everybody.

[@TerryFarrah]

I really liked the intro, giving the history of such crossings.

[@sherylcascadden4988]

Thank you for your excellent writing. When I see a freight train, I sometimes find myself chanting "60 tons, 60 tons, 60 tons" - the weight of each fully loaded freight car. Trains NEVER stop fast, not even when they derail. Keep up the good work, and I hope everyone drives safely.

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

@@sherylcascadden4988 Thank you. This won't be the last time you'll see my writings for FH, wink wink. Here's a fun(?) fact for you, sometimes freight cars when fully loaded can exceed more than 100 tons! They're vital to the transportation industry, but that comes at the cost of stopping distance. If I may recommend, there are a few videos by _Plainly Difficult_ who covered some other rail disasters that explain this disadvantage in great detail.

[@ViperliciousOG]

How does one go about getting a writing job like this? Seems fascinating

[@jessicad83]

Interesting timing on this vid, we just experienced a bus related tragedy here in Australia. A bus load of family members the day after a wedding in the Hunter Valley leaving 10 dead and 25 injured. Speeding is believed to have been the cause. 💔

[@samking7213]

Yes, super tragic.

[@gwenmitchell3207]

R.I.E.P

[@sketchyskies8531]

Rip

[@jgodwin717]

So sad to hear 😢 May their loved ones be comforted.

[@meredithgrubb4497]

My goodness. I am so sorry.

[@infinitecanadian]

I love how the residents so often help.

[@TheEducatedIdiots]

I often find myself driving behind school buses. There are a number of level crossings for railroads and light rail lines in my area. I used to get so frustrated when the buses would stop at the crossings, until one day a bus was stopped for a little longer than usual. I was getting a little bit upset, but then a train came around the blind corner at speed. The lights and gate at the crossing had malfunctioned and weren't working. If that bus driver hadn't stopped to listen, either the bus or myself could have been on the tracks when that train went through. Ever since that day, I've been so grateful for that protocol. This video just reinforced that. I'd much rather lose a few minutes of my day than see anyone lose their life.

[@petaloka1]

I currently live in Congers very near the crash sight. In fact I can see the train tracks from my house. At the time of the crash I was ten years old living in a neighboring town, the news of the crash was very frightening. Excellent job covering this horrific incident.

[@RichManSCTV0]

This crash is why busses stop at crossings now

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

I wrote this, I hope I did a good job :)

[@williamgallucci9913]

I'm from blah elf and remember this terrible tragedy

[@TerryFarrah]

@@MilesL.auto-train4013 It upheld the fine reputation of the brand

[@shannaclankie184]

​@@RichManSCTV0 I think they were supposed to then, too. The driver got in trouble for not doing the stop and listen check. Its probably the main reason why it's always done now, though. I don't think there's ever been a similar crash like this in my area but all the bus drivers have always taken t"he whole bus be quiet. I have to listen on the tracks," Very serious

[@reachandler3655]

The driver was a firefighter, supplimenting his income driving the school bus. I can't help but wonder if he was sleep deprived and/or traumatised by his firefighting experience, effecting judgement, concentration, and awareness of surroundings?

[@Dulcimertunes]

I thought of that too

[@luciddreamer616]

I have to imagine that sleep deprivation played a huge role. I worked nights for 13 years and I often felt fine in the mornings, but I was incredibly absent-minded and would often only realize it in hindsight.

[@photone]

He was actually running late to his job...his shift started at 9AM. He had ti finish his route, return the bus, and drive into New York City, to his fire house. Normally he had plenty of time, but the construction detour threw him behind.

[@SerenaTheTurtle]

I thought of that too. It's also somewhat disturbing to me that a *firefighter*, of all people, would have to supplement his income with a second job. 😬

[@Arcalargo]

I'm trying to find the specific incident but I know there was a jet liner that crashed due to pilot fatigue. The pilot was poorly rested because they were at their second job the night before so they could make ends meet. That one scares me a lot.

[@perracheposte1752]

Thanks a lot. It reminds me the Allinges accident (2008), France, where a school bus was hit by a passager train at 80km/h. The accident killed 7 students, and the teacher killed himself later.

[@vividesiles3763]

C'est horrible...

[@nthgth]

The buses are driven by teachers there?

[@Mrsjam96]

That poor man!

[@NannupTiger]

We just had a horror bus crash in Australia. 10 people dead, 25 injured, some critically. It's the worst road accident in Australia for over 30 years. The bus driver has been charged.

[@BlighterProductions]

What an awful coincidence… 🪦

[@marvindebot3264]

You missed the worst bit, they were all guests returning from a wedding.

[@suicunetobigaara]

RIP to those that lose their lives and thinking of all that are involved with the tragedy. It is horrible, they were doing the right thing and taking transportation after drinking at a wedding, only for the bus drivers' negligence to ruin everything.

[@j_0anna]

i immediately thought of this after seeing the title of this video. it's very sad and i'm paying close attention to what happens next.

[@jimregier]

@@petyweestraw congratulations on the first a whole comment . GFY

[@natalieklein9945]

Your videos are my favorite, not only because you are a great storyteller, but because you always keep it respectful and end on the positive changes. 👍👍

[@MsTimelady71]

The bus driver was 100% at fault for those kids deaths. Having rode a school bus for many years, drivers always, always slow to a stop, open the door and listen for trains before proceed over tracks. No excuses.

[@imxploring]

Tragically it was events like this that resulted in such requirements.... even though common sense would have always dictated it.

[@christinesbetterknitting4533]

Having ridden* is what you meant to say.

[@torstenpearson1996]

@@christinesbetterknitting4533 having stfu

[@crow-jane]

@@christinesbetterknitting4533 Don’t be that person.

[@MarkusxJxKeetz]

Even city buses here in Milwaukee do that. We crossover a few railroads, mainly downtown and at the tail end near my stop. So, it’s rather normal now

[@NightShade1218]

"A school bus full of children..." Time for another uplifting Fascinating Horror video!

[@SusantheNerdy]

IMO, it sounds like he was trying to beat the train so as not to get stopped on the way to school. I'm sure he thought he could do it and had no idea that it would end in such tragedy. But that's why safety rules are there. I lived near train tracks most of my childhood and my parents always taught me to be careful and once I started driving, *never* try and beat a train.

[@MilesL.auto-train4013]

As I was researching this to write the script, that was my thought too. While it'll never be 'officially' known, given past events, I wouldn't be surprised.

[@cloudsn]

Yes, I've heard of this incident before and thought the same. The kids heard the train, I'm sure the driver did. And he sped up, that's classic "beat the red light" behavior. Or train, in this case.

[@stuartaaron613]

I remember this accident (I was 10-1.2 at the time). A few years later I found a copy of Reader's Digest at my grandparent's apartment which had a story about this accident. The saddest part for me was that one of the children who died was an only child of his parents.

[@justpaddingtonbear]

That's so tragic.

[@eywine.7762]

I'm about your age and I remember this event, too. The news was horrifying and so sad. I remember crying for the kids who were killed and injured.

[@tomservo56954]

I remember that article...

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

I was just thinking, wasn’t that the readers digest feature called Bus Crash! I also read my grandmothers, copy of Reader’s Digest, over and over, mortified by the descriptions of the injured children. I was also 10 years old.

[@chuckschafer942]

I READ THAT R/D STORY

[@Lemmon714_]

I started driving a school bus the day I turned 16-1/2 in 1984. The driver trainer was tough and didn't pass anyone that wasn't perfect. When you messed up a practice passenger stop, he would slam the side of ten bus and scream, "YOU JUST KILLED A GD KID!!! WTF ARE YOU GOING TO TELL THEIR FAMILY!!!" That and smacking my ankle with a broom for leaving my foot on the clutch have stuck with me.

[@acwhit1593]

Both of my parents drove the school bus, while they were both still students in high school. It's terrifying to think of now.

[@fionamackie3357]

You were driving a school bus at 16 1/2??? So glad my kids weren't on that bus!!

[@Ozymandias1]

@@fionamackie3357 A few years ago a 15 year old stole a city bus from a bus yard. City buses in my country aren't started with a key but with a sequence of pushing levers and buttons. The kid had been very observant during an open day at the bus company and managed to start the bus. He then proceeded to follow the bus's route, stopping at all stops and opening the doors to let out and let in passengers and checking for tickets and he did this flawlessly. He then returned the bus to the yard. Of course he was severely reprimanded but they told him to come back in a few years when he had become an adult as he would make a good bus driver.

[@mdatkinson92]

Did you work with him still when you'd become more experienced?

[@matildabryant8398]

Older students drove the school bus when I went to high school. Sounds crazy now.

[@aceckrot]

Following a train/school bus collision in 1938, a federal law was passed in the U. S. which requires school busses to stop at all railroad crossings. I can't understand how, 34 years later, something like this could have happened. Although I'm sure he carried this memory with him all his life, the driver was lucky not to have faced steeper penalties.

[@marcbuisson2463]

Lack of training is a major part of things often. Here included. Also, it's insane how little americans put in their infrastructure. Having a grade crossing in a neighborhood with kot even automatic barriers sounds *insane*.

[@burlingtonfan7492]

@@marcbuisson2463​​⁠As an American I get that it’s weird that crossing had no gates, but back then (outside of urban areas), that was pretty much the norm here. It was a quiet and spread out neighborhood, the road was a minor one, so everyone just assumed gates and lights were not needed. Cause of collisions like the one in Congers, that sort of “laid back” culture of the 70s went away

[@marcbuisson2463]

@@burlingtonfan7492 American roads to this day are notoriously badly engineered, with most practices from the 60's and 70's still alive. For both cultural reasons (cultural exceptionnalism, things like the Internation Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals is not signed, hate on roundabouts), economic ones (building good roads requires money. Lot's of it. More than is usually available. Maintaining one requires even more on the long run) and just plain incompetence. From both the engineers (learning how speed limits are set up in the US is insane), the jurisdiction and politicians (the idea that bad road designs leads to accidents and not just personal responsability is near non-existent. So is the idea of building a road with common traits to encourage people to drive at a certain speed), and incompetence from the drivers themselves. Americans, most of the time, require very little amounts of driving knowledge and experience to drive. Your roads are amongst the worst in the western world, are the least maintained, the least engineered, and the worst designed. And you drive more per capita. Is it a surprise if you have the most deaths per capita from road accidents in the developped world?

[@m0rg4n1sm]

i was a schoolkid in the early 00’s. our school buses always stopped and opened the doors at RRX. we students were frequently reminded to be silent during these stops so the driver could listen for oncoming trains. i never knew there had been such an accident to prompt this rule.

[@jackielinde7568]

The rule had been in place for a while, long before this accident. There probably was an accident that did trigger this rule, as usually the case.

[@nthgth]

I wonder how many cars have been hit by trains because car drivers don't normally take this step.

[@jackielinde7568]

@@nthgth More than should happen. And even with gates, lights and bells, some drivers still feel the need to "Beat the train" resulting in death and destruction.

[@CuriousMess61]

My heart aches for all involved, especially the families who lost their children. One thing caught my attention. When the student said "We started to accelerate" it made me think the bus driver knew the train was coming and tried to beat it. Some of the students knew it was coming too. I makes me wonder if he lied about not hearing it.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

It blows my mind that up until two years after this, in New York state there were no restrictions or qualifications for being a schoolbus driver, that is just absolutely mind blowing to me that it took a tragedy like this, and even for a full year afterwards the revised articles didn't come into force. That is just absolutely wild to me. There's also the one in, I think it was, Tennessee or Georgia where a bus did stop but due to something happening the driver didn't hear the train and drove over the tracks as well and was hit.

[@adde9506]

I'm not at all surprised that it took them two years to develop and implement training and certification programs for school bus drivers out of nowhere. It's not like they could copy someone else's.

[@johnsmith9161]

@@adde9506 Are you serious all mass Transit bus drivers in the US are School bus drivers. All city bus drivers are taught the Smith style of driving which was invented in 1952. Police departments and the Military teach a version of this method.

[@boombastic108]

It's New York. Nothing proper happens quickly there.

[@sophierobinson2738]

I’m 70. I remember teachers being bus drivers, when I was in high school.

[@dannyjones3840]

Ya gotta remember, this happened in a different time. In some towns, the oldest student was the bus driver, I'm dead serious.

[@markbrusberg9808]

I remember this incident, which occurred when I was a child. There was a big push afterwards to put up gates on all crossings. Even now though, people ignore those. I travel to work on a commuter train and have personally seen two vehicles - a car and a commuter bus - that had been struck as they lingered in the crossing area.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

That is like push to put traffic lights in all corners! It is impractical, expensive and impossible.

[@markbrusberg9808]

@@MarceloBenoit-trenes It was probably a knee-jerk reaction at first, but at least some crossings were made safer. I spent a lot of time in rural West Virginia as a kid and there were many roads near my grandparents' house that were completely tree lined up to the crossing. Kind of creepy crossing those at night when you could hear trains blowing their horns in the distance.

[@TheRealChristopherB]

I could already guess the severity of the accident as soon as I saw the drivers face. That hollow far-off stare reads as someone who's negligence led to the grievous harm of countless young lives. An impulsive decision led to nothing but devastation and pain. May all who lost their lives or those who's lives were forever altered, be at peace.

[@legitbeans9078]

Actually their lives can be easily counted.

[@macdietz]

Absolutely love the professional presentation style of your videos. Top notch, really. Keep it up

[@TheSlong123]

There was a recent incident of a woman "taking too long" to pull over, police yanked her from her truck, cuffed her, threw her in the back of a cruiser, PARKED ON TRACKS, then searched her truck for a gun since she had a holster. They never found one. Or anything else. But since they were more concerned with finding anything they ignored her screams as a train approached, and git the cruiser. She survived with serious injury.

[@TerryFarrah]

Unbelievable. Where did this happen?

[@InteriorDesignStudent]

Looks like it was in September 2022 in Colorado. One officer has been charged with a criminal attempt to commit manslaughter.

[@ViperliciousOG]

I DESPISE when people stop ON the damn tracks KEEP IT MOVING DIPSTICKS! I hope the officers charges stick

[@broberts2043]

The original call to police was for a road rage incident involving the suspect pointing a gun at the other driver, that’s why they were looking for a gun. They surmise the reason she took so long to pull over, was to dump the gun.

[@wensdyy6466]

my best friend died couple months ago when she for some reason cross a railway in her car and probably did not look...I jsut don´t understand why people continue to risk their lifes instead of slowing down before crossing and actually paying attention. There has been so many of these accidents that resulted in so many deaths...

[@NannupTiger]

Terrible. Life is so busy and complicated but you have to pay attention when you are on the roads. We also have to drive past each other in opposite directions, at high speeds..this design is leftover from the horse and cart days.

[@_kaleido]

That’s very sad to hear, I’m sorry.

[@justpaddingtonbear]

I'm sorry for your loss. ❤

[@TerryFarrah]

So sorry you lost your friend.

[@gordonvincent731]

I started out as a student engineer for the PC NJ Div. in 1974. I had to hostle locomotives at various locations during 1975. One of those places was the Meadows Motor Pit in S. Kearny, NJ. I met Charlie Carpenter many times when getting his locomotive consist ready for the road. That man never looked right, it was still on his face. As an engineer for 36 years at different locations, I have 9 kills, and many more non fatality accidents. I know the feeling very well.

[@smwca123]

Did you ever handle 2653, the lead unit of the accident train? That was a GE U25B built for NYC in 1965.

[@gordonvincent731]

@@smwca123 I handled many of those things. They had a 16 notch throttle. The handle was over a foot long. They were a piece of work!

[@Depressed_Nightfury]

My heart goes out to that PC engineer and conductor....knowing what was going to happen and knowing there wasn't anything else they could do after applying the air brakes. Thousands of tons of train can't stop soon enough

[@kevlarkid928]

I was a conductor on this line for many years. It's still talked about by the crews working it. It has a bad feeling at night, that's for sure.

[@jspaceemperor420]

If you haven't already, Might I suggest the 1989 Kempsey Bus Head On Collision Australia's single worst road accident **Also worth a mention the Grafton Bus - Truck Crash only 2 months prior**

[@marvindebot3264]

One of my employees lost her mum in the Grafton crash.

[@BarronessM]

As a school bus driver and driving my route for 4 years, I still stop at all the rail road crossings. Even though I know they are mostly disused and if they are it's at a very slow speed (walking pace) I still stop and do the full stop routine (quiet kids/noise, open drivers window, stop bus fully, Engage parking brake/shift to neutral, open door, look/listen, then continue on if safe)

[@Carolbearce]

Such a sad and horrible accident. I am surprised that there were so few deaths. So sad for the children that survived with those memories and the loss of limbs.

[@DrJ-hx7wv]

The train was moving slowly, thank God

[@joewilson3393]

It reminds me of the people you see every day on freeways taking crazy risks just to get to their jobs. You can get so focused on your task, like in his case getting the kids to school on time, that risks get reduced in your head without your realizing. You see it so often in accidents. A guy at the bank I worked on died changing the light in the celling because turning the lights off for a few minutes to do it was just too much of an inconvenience. I mean, think about it. He probably thought to himself, turning the light off will be a whole extra step, I can just do this real quick and be done with it. But it killed him.

[@daffers2345]

This one gave me goosebumps. Train crashes with passenger vehicles are always horrible, and I don't understand why people think it's OK to stop on tracks or "play chicken" with a train. Trains are huge and heavy and have unbelievable amounts of momentum. Once, someone I knew said he'd been goofing in someone's backyard, and they were grabbing onto the slow freight train as it passed and letting it drag them along the ground. When I said that was a stupid idea, he said I had no sense of adventure. People don't seem to realize how dangerous trains really are.

[@mariekatherine5238]

I remember this very well. It’s why school buses now must come to a complete stop before crossing any train tracks, regardless of gates, flashing lights, warning signs, train whistle, gate gongs.

[@ashb7846]

Where I live city busses are required to stop at train tracks as well. There are lots of crossings that don’t have more than a small sign, if that (neighborhoods slowly built around old existing rail lines), so it’s better safe than sorry when in charge of transporting strangers.

[@sophiaisabelle027]

We appreciate your content. They're well made and well explained from beginning to end. Keep up the good work.

[@paulroberts3639]

I remember in the early 1990s, in Melbourne Australia, where I grew up, a Police officer with lights and siren on was stopped at a level crossing with lights, bells and boom-gates. A train went through from the right of the intersection and stopped at a station 20 metres passed the crossing to the Cop’s left. It is common for the lights not to be cancelled when a train is still so close to the crossing. If a train was coming the other way, it would stop at the station anyway. That is, unless it was an express train and there weren’t that many of those each day. Therefore, the Police officer, looking both ways, inched forward and was struck at high speed by an express train passing through the station. The Police officer just couldn’t see it past the first train stopped at the station. The Police officer was killed instantly. There was a driver opposite who was also stopped at the crossing watching this unfold. He saw what the cop was about to do and could see the express train coming. And he signalled frantically. But the Police officer wasn’t looking his way. No one on the train was killed. Sad that a cop took a risk to do his duty and just happened to be when an express train was passing. Probably one of only a couple of express trains on that line on any given day.

[@quillmaurer6563]

This is why you never ignore the gates - they might know something you don't. Trains are one of the few things with right-of-way over emergency vehicles.

[@catw4729]

It’s one of the things I notice particularly at French level crossings. “Un train peut cacher un autre “. One train can hide another. It may be that it’s said in other countries, but for some reason this phrase sticks.

[@MarsJenkar]

The chance of an express train is why the gates at a level crossing (in a city where I used to work) would always close when a train pulled in to the local station. If the train stopped at the station, the gates would remain closed for a bit, then the signal would cancel and the gates would lift again, generally for long enough for a couple of cars to go through each way. Once the train started moving again, the gates would close again. I never saw a train pass clean through that station, but I expect that if it did, the gates would reopen as soon as the train finished passing through, unless there was another train coming the other way. If the gates are closed, I assume they're closed for my safety, and I don't try to second-guess them. If they're closed because of a fault, I try and find a detour rather than risk crossing there.

[@TheCsel]

Police often think themselves above the law and above safety policies, expecting everyone to yield to them. Sadly this one found out that the safety policies are there for a reason.

[@catw4729]

Clearly my recollection is faulty. I cycled through a French level crossing the day before yesterday and see I missed “en” after “peut”. My grammar always was weak😉 Yesterday I went through a German level crossing which, like the one the OP described was next to a station. There was no warning at all. The only similar ones I can think of in the UK have full barriers. It seems to come down to: France - you need a reminder; Germany- we trust you to use your common sense; and Britain - we know you’ll be stupid if we gave you half a chance.

[@Definitely.Not.Shia.LaBeouf]

This channel is so under appreciated. Keep up the great work ❤️

[@nonconnahordeath]

One of the most chilling documentaries I've ever seen was 'Impact After The Crash', about the Carrollton bus accident in 1988. Great documentary, but harrowing.

[@rilmar2137]

I can't even fathom how devastating it was for that community. Trams are of course much smaller and shorter than trains, but even still - on screens on the trams in my city they play spots about how a tram takes quite a while to stop, along with real footage of cars being bumped by trams, and how you must always yield to a tram.

[@nowasiwassaying...1699]

I live in the town this accident happened in. My dad was about 11 years old. He wouldn't let me take the bus when it needed to cross rr tracks.

[@cengiztaner4754]

NEVER stop your uploads. Still as genuine, serious and informative as day 1, if not more. Great work.

[@BBWBrynn]

I can’t even imagine the pain these families must have gone through 😔

[@shatteredshards8549]

I live near many level crossings for frequently-used public transit rail, and I'm so used to both school bus drivers and public transit drivers stopping and opening the doors even when they have the green light. I cannot imagine just plowing right through an intersection like that.

[@Lemmon714_]

I drove a bus 1984-1987. Even at 16yo, I followed the RR crossing rules 100%.

[@TerryFarrah]

Holy cow, they let a 16 year old drive a school bus! Now in the U.S. a 16 year old can't even drive around their own friends.

[@Lemmon714_]

@@TerryFarrah Most of the drivers in the 80's where I was were 16-18.

[@franciscampagna2711]

Thank you. I lived not far from this. This was my senior year. Lived too close to school to take the bus. Our little town had 4 crossings. None were signaled.

[@kdfulton3152]

There’s a VERY good reason for buses stopping at the tracks, opening the door, looking left and right, etc. If the driver had done his job, a basic safety maneuver, he would have heard the train coming. I do not stop on tracks, EVER, even in my own car.

[@zakelwe]

But then you are relying on humans being infallible. We all know what people should and should not do. But have you never made an error of judgement, nor were careless for a moment? This whole channel shows that shouldn't be something you should rely on over history, that people are perfect. Level crossing gates would have removed/reduced the consequences. There is a lot of time and effort on all types of transportation to reduce this by design and by putting systems in place.

[@alice45-fgd-456drt]

@@zakelwe I don't think anyone expects people to be infallible, but it's reasonable to expect drivers of public transportation to take basic action to make sure they don't kill an entire bus load of kids. That's not expecting someone to be infallible, it's expecting someone to do their job. Surprisingly you rarely hear about surgeons day drinking and killing people in surgery, or daycare staff driving a van through the yard running kids over, so clearly it's actually possible to do your job despite being just human.

[@_kaleido]

As a kid I always wondered why they opened the door at train tracks when we were going on field trips. I know why now thanks to this video and it makes a lot of sense

[@Creepystalker102]

@@zakelwenope, it’s not expecting infallibility to expect someone not to stop on the tracks. I’ve managed to do it for as long as I’ve been a driver

[@GiordanDiodato]

it wasn't required to do so at the time

[@Purpleguy1929]

I live in new york, and i heard this disaster before because my grandparents watch this on the news and it’s sad, rip to the victims who lose there lives in this tragedy.

[@grapeshot]

I guess they did things differently in the early 70s. I'm a school bus driver and I can't even technically move the bus if I still have students that are standing.

[@marvindebot3264]

All Aussie ones (and all long-distance coaches) have seatbelts now as well. Most school busses have 3-point belts, not just lap.

[@vectorwolf]

Even in the 80s, I remember there were plenty of times kids were standing in the aisle. There were even handles there to hang onto. Busses have changed a lot.

[@Arissiah]

​@@marvindebot3264 Here in the US I think school busses used to have seat belts and now they definitely don't. Only the shorter busses have belts. I don't really get it myself.

[@alice45-fgd-456drt]

I grew up in the 90s and people standing on crowded buses was definitely the norm back then too, not just on school buses but in general.

[@tin2001]

@@marvindebot3264 It's about to get ridiculous in NSW... They're wanting to make the drivers of school buses responsible for kids actually wearing the seatbelts... Yet they're not allowed to kick kids off the buses even for things like assaulting another kid or vandalism. So if they won't wear it, what happens? And when you add in the extra time that will be needed at stops to wait for seatbelts, a 20 minute bus trip may end up being an hour. And that's if there's even a school bus left after all the drivers end up quitting over being put in a ridiculous position. After the crash this weekend, you can be sure they'll rush through changes, and suddenly there will chaos for parents trying to get kids to school on time.

[@JukeboxJoeB]

I listen to these types of videos all the time, but when children are involved, it never seems to be any easier to hear the stories.

[@sweetistweeter]

I am so terrified of killing someone with my car. When I was 13 my cousin was found not guilty of culpable manslaughter after he crashed his car, killing his passenger, and it really stuck with me. The whole thing, the death, the court case, all of that. Which makes me feel insane when I go the absolute speed limit, even in road work zones where there seems to be zero reason for it. You just don't know what risk you're running. Level crossings, school zones, zebra crossings - be alert.

[@yellowgreen5229]

RailTransit Driving is a huge responsibility and done by stupid people with huge trucks, plus everyone makes mistakes.

[@justpaddingtonbear]

You're a good person.

[@itsAmonder]

I live about 10 mins from the scene of this crash and didnt even know about it until i saw this video. Thanks for finding all these stories!

[@TransistorBased]

The fact that we have gates that come down to block the flow of traffic, and vehicles still get hit by trains means that no amount of protection is going to keep people from doing dumb things

[@InteriorDesignStudent]

No, but we still need laws to prevent most people from doing the stupid things they want to do.

[@MrDan708]

I sometimes watch videos on railfan channels like Jaw Tooth. It's stunning how often they capture people sneaking under crossing gates about to block the road. It really is a case of Darwin Derby! People really don't seem to know (or care) that a large, heavy train needs a LONG distance to stop.

[@detectivewiggles]

Love your channel! Just a small suggestion--I think it would be really helpful if you could put the year that the disaster you're covering on the thumbnail with the name--that's the first thing I always want to know! Obviously if it's a black and white image like this that usually gives a LITTLE indication of when it happened, but would be cool to know the year from the moment you see the thumbnail

[@llouie4999]

When I saw the title I thought oh no - the "why buses always stop and look at the train tracks". My heart sank further that the bus was a school bus. As many note, can't believe there weren't more deaths (and then reminding us what survivors went through!)

[@stevesgaming7475]

I'm amazed there was only five fatalities. but still, five too many.. if only they had improved the crossing earlier but things only seem to be fixed after a tragedy, not before.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

Why the crossing? The main issue was that the driver NEVER STOPPED at it.

[@shannoncarlson6960]

Great video. As the manager of a school bus company, this is a fear always! There is no situation where a train colliding with a vehicle on the tracks is the fault of the train. So tragic and yet it could have been even worse. Thanks for a great reminder of caution to all.

[@C-Here]

Gosh 61 is very young to die... No doubt he suffered for the rest of his life for such a terrible accident... Those poor children... 💔💔💔💔💔

[@Dmgkisapika112]

I lived near a train for about 12 years when I was still a kid. We were maybe 3 streets down. The first year we always heard when one was coming, especially since trains weren’t super common here. After maybe 3 years we never heard the train, even when approaching the tracks. You quickly get desensitised to the extremely loud sounds and rumbling of a train, meaning if you are on a route that involves railroad crossing often you need to always remember there could be a train.

[@garchamp9844]

To stop and open the doors to listen for trains when you are already late sounds like one of those rules that management institutes to cover their backsides, while still accepting no delays and in reality expecting the rules to be ignored by employees trying to get things done on time.

[@sharons5714]

I was a school bus driver in PA at the time and many of us openly cried when we heard of the accident

[@AstraEatsBears]

This makes me so cross, even in a car, at a level crossing without a gate, I would stop/slow down to properly assess the situation! How you could just speed up with no caution with any amount of children in your care is just beyond my level of comprehension. You don't mess about with trains, full stop.

[@alice45-fgd-456drt]

A surprising amount of people think that if you just go over real quick nothing bad will happen. Don't know how many accidents I've heard of that have had exactly this scenario, of someone speeding up rather than slowing down when they reach train tracks. Absolutely insane, as trains often do go MUCH faster than 40km/h.

[@AstraEatsBears]

@@alice45-fgd-456drt that's what gets me, we're not faster than a train and we're certainly not stronger than one 😬

[@garyreid6165]

I remember riding the bus to school. The driver, when approaching a railroad track always stopped, opened the door listened and didn’t move until he or she was satisfied. I remember one incident when a train was stuck midway through its journey and we had to wait for more than a half hour until it was safe to proceed. We were late, but we arrived alive.

[@jp-um2fr]

In the UK there is an average of less than 1 death per year involving cars and trains.

[@rich_edwards79]

That's because level crossings are a rarity here and those that remain generally have automatic gates. I know of one that has manual gates and it's on a single track lane that leads to an isolated farmhouse.

[@ferretman6790]

I live in the same county where this happened. It’s always crazy for me when my County is mentioned, especially places that I recognize, and go to almost daily. Such a horrible tragedy!

[@adde9506]

Would love to see the Schoharie Limousine crash on here. They tried so hard to blame the driver, but once again, the villain was corporate greed. Stretch limos are already scary when you look at how their made, but I will happily never set foot in one, even as the driver.

[@stephcarlofc]

Another videos you could do is the Fox River Grove 🚌 🚆 collision that happened in Fox River Grove, IL in 1995 and another one that happened in Bourbonnais, IL in 1999.

[@LegioXIII-SPQR]

This incident gives the phrase "Better late than never" particularly significant meaning

[@TinkSalsa]

I was driving to South West NY at one point (randolph) and on the way there, i was confused as there was a car stopped on a road and I wasn't sure why. Suddenly, a train came flying infront of us. It was a railroad crossing. It didn't have lights or bells, it just had a single sign on the right side of the road infront of it, which was hidden in the trees and in the dark. There wasn't even a street light illuminating the crossing so it could be seen. I had music in my car, but it wasn't that loud. If not for the fact another car was infront of me and already stopped there, there is 0 doubt in my mind that i would have died. Still terrifies me and pisses me off that crossings still exist today without arms to go down and lights.

[@JadedJessica]

I very nearly ended up in a school bus vs. freight train collision as a child. Our driver suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness at the wheel. The bus swerved off the road and hit a signal box. If we had not hit that box, we would have rolled over onto the tracks. Just a few moments later, the train came through town. We were just a few feet from the tracks. I remember passersby helping lift us out of the bus, one by one, from the emergency exit, as the train was passing by.

[@InteriorDesignStudent]

Was the driver okay?

[@JadedJessica]

@Tracey12345678901 It turned out he had a chronic illness he didn't know about that caused him to pass out. While he wasn't injured in the crash, unfortunately, he passed away later from the illness itself. I honestly don't recall what illness it was since it's been 20+ years. I remember he was a very kind man, though.

[@anthonypantliano6911]

I live here and visit the park off of Gilchrest road almost daily. I only noticed the plaque this week, and now this video shows up.

[@xenosphobatic]

They say regulations are written in blood. Yet another example here.

[@ruthshelton-tp9ie]

To this day two rail road crossings a school bus I was on STILL don't have ANY rail road crossing warnings ! I'm 72 -- I guess nothing will change until some awful thing happens in Edison, New Jersey. I've long since moved away.

[@amaccama3267]

The train always wins.

[@Rhonda9199]

Please look into the school bus train crash in Williamsport Maryland! Thank you and appreciate your hard work!

[@c0mpu73rguy]

It's cheaper to do memorials than to do revisions to safety measures before it's too late. This world disgusts me.

[@5amH45lam]

Well said.

[@alice45-fgd-456drt]

Very true, and that's honestly a fitting tag line for the majority of all accidents on this channel. So much stupidity and "it won't happen to me" type thinking has killed and keeps killing innocent people.

[@quillmaurer6563]

At least this time there were revisions to safety, but only after the fact. More bus driver training, sturdier buses, requirement to stop before crossings, and signals at the crossing. What you say feels so true though, I think of an Onion segment on the pre-emptive construction of a monument to the future victims of a dam that was inevitably going to break, which could be prevented but would cost too much - again satire is the greatest truth-teller.

[@c0mpu73rguy]

@@quillmaurer6563 That's what's this channel is all about, presenting horrific incidents that did change protocols. But always AFTER the fact.

[@quillmaurer6563]

@@c0mpu73rguy Sometimes. Some of the stories had safety protocols changed afterward to ensure no repeat, in some cases this was known to have prevented further disasters. Some on the other hand nothing was changed afterward, a few people thrown under the bus, those really responsible walking free, and no changes made. And some had rules, regulations, protocols already in place that should have prevented it, but due to carelessness, ignorance, unqualified people unknowingly violating them, or in some cases deliberate corner-cutting, the proper protocols were not followed.

[@ajaks7636]

Another Tragedy, that was easily avoidable. Great Narration, and Great Video! Thank You. 😁

[@seandelap8587]

Who cares about getting the students to the school on time I'm sure it would have been much better if he had waited for the train to pass and the students he was carrying to arrive a bit late to the school but alive and uninjured rather than dead or maimed for life so the bus driver was simply reckless here

[@charisselinnell-morton4137]

So happy this channel has so many subs as it has been one of my favorites from the beginning!

[@E-N-A-R-D-L-A-V]

Before I opened my own restoration shop, I worked for a number of years doing body and mechanical work on heavy trucks. Thinks rigs, heavy machinery and buses. I remember the first time I ever worked on a bus and thinking, "how on earth do we let our children ride in these things!" They are only slightly safer than RVs. They are basically a rectangular frame and on top is an aluminum box. Don't let the ribs on the box fool you, they are as easily crushed as a soda can. Even minor impacts require extensive repair, and I have replaced more than a few frame rails and stairs on them due to rusting through. The floors are wooden and often rot through, and more often than not, the bolts holding the seats in rust away, leaving the seats only partially attached to the box. School buses are death traps, and it is amazing any of them survived.

[@tommypines1039]

A red train was coming to an intersection my by house out in the country, no warning signs or gates, just a yield sign. Our bus driver was and older fellow, and didn't notice the red train, because its was passing infront of a farm with lots of red barns, sorta camouflaged. He wasnt slowing any, so I piped up and said 'hey, theres a train right there.' he finally noticed and slammed the breaks, nose end of the bus just a couple feet from the train as it crossed the intersection. I was like 9.

[@KristenRowenPliske]

It is a miracle that only five people died. I hate getting behind school buses because I know they have to stop at the train tracks near us. But I’m glad they follow that safety procedure, especially since my own kids ride the buses. As far as I know, there hasn’t been a bus vs train accident in this area.

[@tonypalermo5796]

I was 7 years old in Congers when this happened, still remember the intersection vividly.

[@brianaalee1]

This is heartbreaking.... Reminds me of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash a few years ago... 😢 That would be a topic for a new video!

[@tanderson6442]

I was just thinking about that too. Had to bring that up in a post I just wrote. When that happened and I heard about it I got pretty teary eyed. And I don’t ever have emotion, didn’t know any of those kids but when I was a kid I played Jr hockey and we bused all over Canada and parts of Alaska. Plus hockey communities are usually pretty close so the tragedy just struck a cord with me.

[@brianaalee1]

@@tanderson6442 I remember watching the news the day it happened anxiously waiting for updates... It was a devastating day, I know we felt it all the way across the country. My siblings and I didn't play hockey, but had many friends growing up who did.

[@SabbathLily]

I'm from Rockland County and this is something that is still talked about to this day.

[@grizzstark]

Trying to beat the clock ... common theme in many ... deadly accidents thank you for another excellent video... unbelievable how many stayed alive ❤

[@MightyMezzo]

I re-watched this after watching Plainly Difficult’s video on the crash. I remember riding in a school bus with the rest of my high school marching band, and being a bit bemused when the driver stopped at every grade crossing and opened the door. He did this even if there was grass growing up through the tracks.

[@Nutella2004]

Wow... its so weird to see my county on your channel, but im glad that you covered this event. I only learned about this last year from a lecture in college, so i felt this accident was somewhat forgotten. Nice to see a video about it though, so thanks. ❤

[@georgschenkfilm]

I feel the people who were at the site of the accident. Just a week ago i saw two 15 year old girls on a 50cc scooter being hit by a van. It happened right in front of my eyes. The impression of these kids being thrown through the air and their screams still haunt me today and probably will do in the future. I couldn’t avoid tears in my eyes as i was trying to warn the oncoming drivers, i was in shock.. Fortunately they both survived, as a policeman informed me some days later. I cannot imagine the pain and trauma the first responders must have felt when they saw a whole bus full of children, severely injured and even dead children… i will be father in about a month and this story just breaks my heart…