WHAS-TV’s (then a CBS affiliate, would later become an ABC affiliate a couple years later in 1990) breaking news report of the Carrollton, Kentucky School Bus accident in 1988.

I wish WHAS-TV remained a CBS affiliate instead of switching affiliations to ABC.

The School Bus, a 1977 Superior conventional on the Ford B-Series chassis & cowl, where the chassis & cowl was built at the Louisville Medium & Heavy-Duty truck assembly plant just 9 days before the regulation where all School Bus chassis must have a cage surrounding their fuel tanks went into effect.

The body was built by Superior of Lima, Ohio and mounted on the chassis as a complete vehicle on March 23, 1977 (stripped chassis, chassis & cab, cutaway; and chassis & cowls are referred to as ‘incomplete vehicles’). Other safety regulations for School Buses that went onto effect on April 1, 1977 were that the seats placed just before the rear emergency exit door had to be shorter in width than the rest of the seats on the bus to allow for the best possible access through the rear emergency exit door and multiple windows that serve as emergency exit positions throughout the bus. The bus was ordered by the Kentucky Department of Schools in 1976, as part of an order of over 600 units for districts throughout the state. The bus was delivered in time to begin usage during the 1977-78 school year and was in service for the following 10 years.

The church had acquired the retired School Bus as surplus from the Meade County, Kentucky school district. It’s likely that either the Meade County, Kentucky school district wanted to rid their fleet of gasoline-powered School Buses as soon as possible or this school district didn’t hold onto their buses any longer than 10 years.

By 1988, the bus had been owned by the church for a year; was used daily for short local moves on school days, had made several other long trips; and had successfully made the same round-trip to Kings Island in July, 1987. It was checked over regularly by mechanically-inclined church members (including a civilian motor pool supervisor from Fort Knox, Kentucky).

Two new truck tires had been installed a week before the ill-fated trip, and front end suspension and steering parts were examined at that time. By all indications, the bus was in good mechanical condition as of May 14, 1988.

During the fateful usage of this bus, the bus was driven by John Pearman; a part-time associate pastor of the church, who was also a local court clerk. The group left the church early that morning and traveled without incident to the park in Ohio. They spent a good portion of the day at Kings Island, boarded the bus; and then began traveling out of Ohio and back into Kentucky toward Radcliff. About an hour afterwards, they stopped to fill the 60-gallon fuel tank with gasoline and then resumed the trip southward back to Radcliff.

Just before 11:00 P.M, while heading south on Interstate 71 outside of Carrollton, Kentucky; the bus collided head-on with a U.S spec Toyota HiLux, which was traveling the north in the southbound lanes at a high speed on a curved stretch of the highway. The U.S spec Toyota HiLux was driven by a man whose name was Larry Wayne Mahoney, a 34-year old factory worker who was driving under the influence of alcohol.

The right front of the U.S spec Toyota HiLux hit the right front of the retired Conventional School Bus on the Ford B-Series chassis & cowl, breaking off the Ford B-Series’ suspension and driving the leaf spring backward into the chassis & cowl’s fuel tank, which was mounted behind an exterior panel but outside the heavier frame; which, in turn; was located just behind the step well for the front door, and thus; rendering the door inoperative. Leaking gasoline from the punctured fuel tank was ignited by sparks caused from metal parts of the suspension scraping on the pavement alongside the road. As the seat covers and the highly flammable polyurethane foam padding ignited, the temperature inside the retired School Bus rose to an estimated 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit; and a thick cloud of noxious, pernicious smoke had also encircled the interior of the School Bus body built by Superior from the ceiling down to the floor within a minute or two.

When fire first broke out immediately after the collision, John Pearman, the driver of the bus; tried to put it out with a small fire extinguisher while passengers began to evacuate through the center rear emergency door, squeezing through the narrow opening between the two rear seats and jumping approximately 3 feet from the location of the window on the School Bus body to the ground.

As previously mentioned, the front door was blocked by collision damage; but there were no emergency exit windows or roof hatches, as found on commercial buses and some school buses of the time; and passengers had to break open the glass and break off the window frame in order to escape from the damaged, blazing retired School Bus. Merely one adult, a woman who was of small stature had managed to escape through a 9 inch opening side window. When she looked back up from the ground upon escaping, the window opening was filled with flames. The other 3 adults aboard, including John Pearman, had died.

Many of those who made it to the area adjacent to rear door were wedged in so tightly that passersby helped pull children out from the human jam at the rear emergency door by force. Conversely, within four minutes or less; the entire bus was on fire, and soon the exodus of passengers stopped. At that point, the passersby who had stopped to help could not reach those still aboard due to the raging fire, and had no choice but to turn their efforts to tending to the crowd of 40 staggered and mostly injured survivors.

Today, the State of Kentucky now requires all School Buses to have a total of 9 emergency exits; more than any other federal or state standard. This includes front and rear doors, a side door, 4 emergency windows and 2 roof exits. The bus that crashed at Carrollton had only front and rear exits, and 11 rows of 39″ seats, including the crucial area near the rear emergency exit door. School Buses owned and operated by School Districts in Kentucky must also have a cage around the fuel tank, a stronger frame and roof to resist crumpling on impact and rollover, high-backed seats, extra seat padding, a fuel system that slows leaks, flame-retardant seats and floors, reflective tape on all emergency exits; and strobe lights on the exterior. School districts in Kentucky also must have a diesel-powered fleet because Diesel isn’t highly flammable, as compared to Gasoline.

Last, in 1991; the State of Kentucky had Kentucky enacted stricter drunk driving laws.