This information is preliminary and subject to change. Release Date 3 April 2024
On Monday, March 11, 2024, at about 11:29 a.m. central daylight time, a 2020 Micro Bird MB II 25-passenger school bus (school bus) was traveling east on U.S. Highway 24 (US-24), near Rushville, Schuyler County, Illinois. The school bus was operated by Schuyler-Industry Community Unit School District No. 5 in Rushville and was occupied by a female driver and three student passengers ranging in age from 3 to 5 years old. At the same time, a 2001 Mack CH613 truck-tractor in combination with a 2001 Vantage 39-foot end-dump semitrailer (combination vehicle), occupied by a male driver, was traveling west on US-24 approaching the school bus. The combination vehicle was operated by Beaird Transport, Inc., of Astoria, Illinois, and the end-dump semitrailer was loaded with sand. The school bus was traveling through a right-hand curve. About halfway through the curve, the school bus crossed over the broken yellow centerline and entered the westbound traffic lane, where it subsequently collided head-on with the combination vehicle. Following the impact, both vehicles departed the roadway to the north, where the combination vehicle’s semitrailer overturned, and both vehicles were engulfed in a postcrash fire.
As a result, the drivers of both vehicles and the three student passengers on the school bus were fatally injured.
At this location, US-24 was an undivided two-lane asphalt roadway consisting of one 11-foot-wide travel lane for each direction of travel. The eastbound travel lane was flanked by a 3.5-foot-wide asphalt-paved shoulder that transitioned to a 7-foot-wide crushed-aggregate shoulder. The westbound travel lane was flanked by a 3-foot-wide asphalt-paved shoulder that transitioned to a 5-foot-wide crushed-aggregate shoulder. Adjacent to both shoulders were drainage ditches. The posted speed limit on US-24 was 55 mph. At the time of the crash, the weather was clear and dry.
Parties to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation are:
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Illinois State Police
- Illinois Department of Transportation
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.
