On April 4, 2002, about 8:19 a.m., a 15-passenger van transporting six children to school was southbound in the left lane of Interstate 240 in Memphis, Tennessee. The van was owned and operated by a private child care center. The vehicle was traveling about 65 mph when it drifted from the left lane, across two other lanes, and off the right side of the roadway. The van then overrode the guardrail and continued to travel along the embankment until the front of the van collided with the back of the guardrail and a light pole. The rear of the van rotated counterclockwise and the front and right side of the van struck the bridge abutment at an overpass before coming to rest. The driver was ejected through the windshield and sustained fatal injuries. Four of the children sustained fatal injuries, and two were seriously injured. The Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the absence of oversight by the child care center and the driver's inability to maintain control of his vehicle because he fell asleep. Contributing to the accident was the Tennessee Department of Human Services lack of oversight of child care transportation. Contributing to the severity of the injuries were the use of a 15-passenger van to transport pupils, the nonuse of appropriate restraints, and the design of the roadside barrier system. The major safety issues discussed in this report are child care transportation oversight and highway barrier design. As a result of this investigation, the Safety Board makes recommendations to state child care transportation oversight agencies, the State Departments of Transportation, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Abstract