Over the last week, four collisions at bus stops across the United States have killed five children and injured eight.
In Rochester, Indiana, a 24-year-old woman was charged after she hit and killed three siblings and injured another 11-year-old boy with her vehicle as they waited for the school bus. The siblings included two twin boys and a sister. The sister attempted to shield the twins before being fatally struck by the vehicle. The driver has been charged with three counts of reckless homicide and one misdemeanor count of passing a school bus when an arm signal device is extended.
In Marietta, Mississippi, an elementary school student was killed after being struck by a truck while trying to board the bus. The nine-year-old boy was walking across the highway when he was struck by the pick-up truck. The 22-year-old driver was charged with aggravated assault.
In Tampa, Florida, five adults and two children were hit by a vehicle while waiting for the bus. Two of the children were seriously injured, while the remaining victims suffered only minor injuries.
In Franklin Township, Pennsylvania, a 7-year-old boy was hit and killed while waiting at a bus stop in a hit-and-run accident. The school bus driver found the child dead at the bus stop and called 911.
News of these tragic accidents comes after another deadly crash last week that killed one and injured six in Houston. Authorities believe the crash occurred after a van got in the path of a potential road rage incident. A white van was headed northbound on a service road when a Chrysler and another van, heading westbound, ran a red light and struck the first van.
The drivers that ran the red light appeared to be intoxicated, the authorities said, and the two drivers may have been involved in a road rage incident.
While traffic fatalities have been steadily declining since the 1960s, distracted driving, intoxication and road rage still contribute to injuries and deaths on the road. In Texas alone, where the potential road rage accident occurred, 3, 721 were killed in motor vehicle accidents last year. Among them, 28% involved a driver that was under the influence of alcohol.
Between 2006 and 2015, school transported-related accidents killed 1, 313 people. The majority of those victims were occupants in other vehicles, but 102 victims were school-age pedestrians. About 64% of the children who were killed were struck by either a bus or a vehicle serving a bus, while 36% were struck by other vehicles.