March 16th, 11:00

[franceslievens]

Tomorrow at 11:00 I'll observe a minute of silence together with my third form pupils, remembering those that died in the fatal bus crash in Switzerland. It has been talk of the day in many classes. Children are trying to understand what it would do to their class group when half of it, three quarters even gets mown away in one fatal accident. Your teacher gone, your friends gone: your world has crashed into that concrete tunnel wall, and it'll never be put right again.

Comments

[lijability.livejournal.com]

Certainly not as bad, but there was a school bus crash in Indianapolis, Indiana, a couple of days ago that claimed the life of the driver and one female student. About a dozen others were injured. They're supplying psychologists to talk to the kids who survived. Here, we don't have seat-belts in school busses but it has been a hotly debated issue for some time now. The cost has kept the state from not requiring seat belts and some safety issues, such as getting kids out in case of an accident should the seat-belt jam. A man on the news tonight said the life of any one child is worth more than the cost to retro-fit the busses with seat-belts. And it seems we have now lost her.

Best... Lynn

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

In this case the bus was equipped with seatbelts and all the kids were wearing them. It was a head on collision with a concrete wall. There is nothing that will help you survive such a crash. Seatbelts are easily cut. I thought that was standard procedure: cutting instead of looking for the button...

Whenever it's the children, it hits close to home.