Jury points to pedal misapplication in Liberty bus crash

LIBERTY, Mo. — Eight years ago, a school bus driver here lost control of her bus and crashed into two vehicles — an accident that killed two motorists and injured dozens of students.

The school bus driver in the May 9, 2005, Liberty crash told authorities that she could not stop the bus.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the accident, found that the information uncovered suggested that pedal misapplication — accidentally hitting the accelerator instead of the brakes — was a factor in the crash. The circumstances, the agency said, “are consistent with driver pedal misapplication.”

The NTSB also found that the Liberty accident “cannot be attributed to a mechanical failure of the school bus.”

In 2008, a grand jury cleared the Liberty school bus driver of criminal wrongdoing in the crash.

In 2009, the NTSB issued a report that examines pedal misapplication through analyses of the Liberty crash and four subsequently investigated accidents involving heavy vehicles, dating from 2005 to 2008, in which pedal misapplication was determined to be a factor.

Now, in a civil trial that ended on Friday, a jury echoed the NTSB in concluding that the driver accidently hit the accelerator rather than the brake. According to a Kansas City Star article on the case, the families of three of the crash victims had charged in a lawsuit that the crash was caused by faulty brakes.