A fatal drift on Lucerne Park Road proves undivided highways kill
By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York ·
A driver crossed the center line on Lucerne Park Road, killing a student and a motorist in a crash that proves undivided roads require physical barriers.
The driver of the white Chevy Malibu killed a 10th-grade girl and a motorist. Fate did not cause this. The driver failed to stay in the lane on a road that offers no margin for error. When a driver drifts on an undivided highway, the road becomes a weapon.
A chain of metal and fire
The crash occurred at 6:15 a.m. on Lucerne Park Road, Sheriff Grady Judd said. A white Chevy Malibu traveling west crossed the center line and struck the school bus. The impact tore off a tire. The bus lost control, WESH said. It collided head-on with a Jeep, which caught fire, WINK News said. The bus overturned into a ditch.
What is the cost of a drift?
The bus carried 37 high school students to Winter Haven High School. The driver and her young daughter were also on board. Most survivors escaped serious harm. Winter Haven Hospital treated 22 patients, including 19 children.
Undivided roads will continue to kill
Superintendent Frederick Heid said the crash could have been far worse. The district noted that all its buses carry lap belts. But lap belts are only a floor. They do not stop a bus from overturning or a Jeep from burning.
The Carrollton school bus crash shares this mechanism. A passenger vehicle crossing into oncoming traffic triggers a chain reaction that destroys a bus. In that case, an alcohol-impaired driver in a pickup truck caused the collision. It became the third-deadliest bus crash in U.S. history.
The search for a safer route
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an independent investigation. Its specialists are coordinating with local deputies. Video shows the white car drifted for unknown reasons, Bay News 9 said. Sheriff Judd called the impact a reverse pit on the bus.
The NTSB will likely issue a safety recommendation on bus structural integrity. They may urge a shift to three-point shoulder belts. The school district will face civil litigation over its routing on Lucerne Park Road. The county must install rumble strips and physical median dividers. Only physical barriers stop a drifting car.