A tragic Ohio crash that killed six and injured 41 has been blamed on a truck driver’s inattention, according to the NTSB’s final report. The 72-mph impact set off a fiery chain reaction that engulfed a school bus carrying band students, exposing critical failures in traffic alerts, fire safety, and driver monitoring. Federal investigators are now calling for sweeping reforms to prevent another disaster of this scale.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded that a truck driver’s lack of attention caused a devastating chain-reaction crash in Ohio that killed six people and injured 41 others. The final report, released Wednesday, found that the driver of a Mid State Systems tractor trailer failed to respond to traffic slowing on Interstate 70 after an earlier crash. Traveling at 72 miles per hour, the truck slammed into vehicles ahead, sparking a fire and massive pileup.
The collision began when the semi plowed into an SUV, then continued over it before striking a motorcoach carrying students from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District to a band performance. The impact sent the bus into another SUV and then into a second truck. Flames engulfed the back three vehicles before they came to rest. Three students, three adult chaperones, and a teacher lost their lives, while dozens more sustained injuries. The truck driver survived with minor injuries.
The NTSB report said investigators could not determine why the driver failed to notice traffic ahead. However, it cited several contributing factors, including the absence of a coordinated strategy to alert drivers to the traffic queue, the speed differential between the truck and slowed vehicles, and the lack of an in-vehicle monitoring system that might have redirected the driver’s focus.
The agency issued eight new safety recommendations, including stronger federal guidance on traffic management, clearer performance standards for collision-avoidance technology in commercial trucks, mandatory driver monitoring systems, and stricter fire safety rules for motorcoaches. The Ohio Department of Transportation was urged to adopt variable speed limits to manage congestion more effectively. The NTSB also advised school districts to prioritize buses with seat belts, noting the motorcoach involved in the crash did not have them, potentially increasing the severity of injuries.
