Crash footage from inside bus may serve as lesson to other drivers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A startling video of a bus crash from inside a Carmel Clay Schools bus may serve as a clear warning to other bus drivers on the dangers of not wearing a seat belt.

24-Hour News 8 showed the surveillance footage from the crash last month of Carmel Clay Bus 111 – which we obtained exclusively Friday through a public records request – to the transportation director at another area school system. What he saw compelled him to show the video to his employees.

It all happened because the Carmel Clay bus driver, 73-year-old Jack Thomas, wasn't wearing his seatbelt. The video shows him thrown out of his seat during a bumpy turn, then struggling in vain to hang on to the steering wheel and control the bus. The bus – which had no children on it at the time – crashed through a fence, trees and a play set before hitting a Carmel home’s garage .

Monday, 24-Hour News 8 wanted to get reaction from someone in the business. Reporter Erin Murphy sat down with the Greenfield-Central Community School Corp. Transportation Director Bill Redmon and showed him the video.

“Oh, my,” he said as he watched. “He isn’t wearing a seat belt is he? No.”

It's hard not to react as Thomas is shown being tossed out of his seat, then barely holding on to the steering wheel before losing his grip and tumbling into the stairwell.

“I'm surprised that he bounced that far out of the seat like that,” Redmon said. “That kind of stuns you.”

It’s the law for school bus drivers to wear their seatbelts.

"The seat belt law has been established in Indiana to save lives,” Indiana State Police said in a statement. “It was fortunate in this crash that no children were being transported in the school bus and no one was seriously injured."

Redmon was so stunned by what he saw that he wanted his employees to watch.

“See how much the seat bounced? And then - boom - pop up,” he said as he watched.

Redmon said he's never had a complaint of his drivers not wearing their seat belts, but he urges all bus drivers to watch the video to see what can happen.

“I hope and I believe all my bus drivers do wear their seat belts. I would love for them to see that so they can see this could happen to you,” he said.

Thomas, was cited for not wearing his seatbelt as required by law. And Carmel Clay Schools have said they encourage all parents and students to say something if they notice their bus drivers not wearing a seat belt.

"The seat belt law has been established in Indiana to save lives,” Indiana State Police said in a statement. “It was fortunate in this crash that no children were being transported in the school bus and no one was seriously injured."