cover image Reckless Disregard: Corporate Greed, Government Indifference, and the Kentucky School Bus Crash

Reckless Disregard: Corporate Greed, Government Indifference, and the Kentucky School Bus Crash

James S. Kunen. Simon & Schuster, $22.5 (379pp) ISBN 978-0-671-70533-6

In a shocking expose of the nation's school buses, Kunen (The Strawberry Statement) focuses on the 1988 head-on collision of a Kentucky school bus and a pickup truck driven by an intoxicated motorist, which killed 24 children and three adults aboard the bus. Kunen had the cooperation of Janey and Larry Fair, whose daughter Shannon was among the victims. The Fairs and another victim's parents, the Nunnallees (whom he also interviewed) initially rejected a settlement offer from Ford, maker of the bus. Instead, the couples pressed the corporation for safety improvements. During a 1992 trial, both couples decided to settle; each was awarded $5 million. The trial and federal hearings indicated that the 27 deaths resulted from an exposed fuel tank, flammable seating materials which emitted toxic fumes, and inadequate safety exits. Many, perhaps most, U.S. school buses today have the same hazards. Using the Kentucky tragedy as a vehicle, Kunen has written a compelling report that deserves the national attention accorded Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed. Photos. (Aug.)