No charges had been filed or citations issued Monday against the driver of the bus, Samuel J. Jackson, as State Police continued their investigation. They are scrutinizing witness statements and physical evidence, examining the bus driver’s route just before the crash as well as posted road signs along the route and preliminary results of a collision reconstruction. Final results could take two to six weeks.
If charges are filed, I'd sure like to be Mr. Jackson's lawyer. First, bring in Bill Geary as a witness and have him explain what he did to make the roads safer in the late 1980s:
“What just occurred this weekend was something I lived in fear of for six-plus years,” said Bill Geary, who from 1983 to 1989 served as commissioner of the former Metropolitan District Commission, the agency that used to be responsible for maintaining Soldiers Field Road. The approach “was kind of primitive, but it worked. It reduced these episodes dramatically.”
Then bring in state officials and have them admit in court to a recent up-tick in crashes along these roadways--and how an "awareness campaign" was planned for later this year. Then, have them prepare work orders showing how often DCR people have been asked to survey the condition of the road signs. "Over the years, some signs faded, got lost, or became tangled on the stanchions that support them." Have DCR produce invoices as to how it often it purchased replacement rubber signs indicating the oncoming height of the underpasses.
Whatever you might think of Mr. Jackson's fault with regard to this accident, a judge or jury reviewing the full record is likely to find that fault equally shared by the agency that is the custodian of these roadways. I'm sure poor Mr. Jackson feels terrible about being involved in hurting those children, and there is no purpose served in punishing him further. If I were the State Police, I'd let him go home and live with his own terrible memories of the event.