AUSTIN (KXAN) — A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows finer details of what happened when a Leander Independent School District bus veered off Nameless Road, resulting in a crash that injured more than sixteen children and the driver.
The crash happened August 13, the first day of school in Travis County. NTSB investigators took over the investigation shortly after.
The agency’s report includes an aerial view of the crash site, denoting the direction the bus was travelling, where it first left the roadway and where it came to rest.
The driver, a 78-year-old according to NTSB’s report, no longer works for the school. They were cited for failing to drive in a single lane and not wearing a seat belt, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Investigators said there was no criminal wrongdoing.
An early investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety “noted limited seat belt use among students.” The NTSB’s report also said, “many students were not restrained with the available seat belts and were displaced from their seats during the roadway departure and rollover event.”
Sixteen of the 46 students on the bus, as well as the bus driver, were taken to the hospital and treated for minor to serious injuries.
The report detailed preliminary facts about the crash. It says the roadway was “wet from light rain” just after 3 p.m. As the bus approached a curve to the left, the bus’s forward-facing camera showed the vehicle drift left across the center line, and then right, where it went off the roadway, crossed an embankment and overturned, the report said.
“Preliminary information indicated that many students were not restrained with the available seat belts and were displaced from their seats during the roadway departure and rollover event,” the report stated.
NTSB said the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Travis County Public Works Transportation and Natural Resources Department were assisting the ongoing investigation.
“All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar events,” NTSB’s report concluded.