Would school bus seatbelts have saved a life in deadly Texas crash?
HAYS COUNTY — There are six seconds before dash cam video from a Hays County School bus was in an accident that would kill two. The bus lands on its side just before 2 p.m., Friday, March 22.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said 44 pre-k students and 11 adults were headed back to Tom Green Elementary School from the Bastrop Zoo when a concrete truck veered into the wrong lane.
HCISD released the edited video on Thursday. No version has audio. There are two visual perspectives: A front and a side camera facing forward.
Investigators said Jerry Hernandez was driving the truck that crossed the line, causing accidents that killed five-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya and Ryan Wallace. The 33-year-old was driving a vehicle that crashed into the bus, killing him.
Under review, was the concrete truck driver under the influence? Court documents obtained in Austin said Hernandez admitted to smoking marijuana Thursday night and taking cocaine Friday.
Questions have come up about the state's seatbelt law, which was initially implemented in 2007. The law required seatbelts on any bus transportation contracted or school-owned. The law was upgraded in 2017 to require 3-point seat belts.
However, retrofitting buses manufactured before the law have no mandate to have safety harnesses.
HCSID said the system bought the bus involved in the accident in 2011. Investigators said at the scene of the double fatality, the school's vehicle did not have seatbelts for the children en route to the zoo.
Seat belts are a recommendation the NTSB reaffirmed two years ago after a seven-year-old died in a school bus versus utility truck crash in Tennessee.
According to school officials in Hays County, troopers will try to determine whether seatbelts would have saved lives.
