Question about 1972 Valley Cottage bus/train tragedy (Congers, Nyack: school, live)

[rlrl]

I was just reading an online article in a Nyack related publication and they were talking about the March 24th 1972 tragedy in Valley Cottage where 5 kids died and many injured

They spoke of the driver who was charged with 5 cts of criminally negligent homicide, who passed away around 2001

any information as to how long he spent in prison and what happened after he left? i was always curious. the article said he swore right up to his death that he never saw the train approaching

i noticed he was a fireman in the city after driving the bus in the AM

[VA Yankee]

Originally Posted by rlrl

I was just reading an online article in a Nyack related publication and they were talking about the March 24th 1972 tragedy in Valley Cottage where 5 kids died and many injured

They spoke of the driver who was charged with 5 cts of criminally negligent homicide, who passed away around 2001

any information as to how long he spent in prison and what happened after he left? i was always curious. the article said he swore right up to his death that he never saw the train approaching

i noticed he was a fireman in the city after driving the bus in the AM

I don't remember the sentence but I remember the tragedy. At the time their was no visual indicators of any kind that a train was coming. Most people would attest that you could not see if a train was coming. One of the after effects was a national change in the laws for school buses as well as RR Crossings.

[jackcapture]

I just read this story in the June 1973 issue of the Reader's Digest and was searching online to find out what happened to the survivors when I ran across this post. According to the article, the driver, Joseph Larkin, was sentenced to 5 years probation. It says he was utterly devastated by the tragedy.

[rlrl]

wow interesting. i would like to get an archive of that RD article

[Mightyqueen801]

I remember when this happened. It was horrifying, especially because I was a teenager myself at the time. There were no gates at the crossing.

[Met8568]

The bus driver used to work sometimes right until he died at his brothers gas station/garage in Tomkins Cove.. He never said much... I didnt know it was him until after he died.

[rlrl]

i was 10 at the time and remember that morning being a windy one. i was leaving for school and was picking up our trash cans which blew down and i heard sirens that were the loudest i had ever heard as a kid up to that time(I lived off WatersEdge by Lk DeForest in Congers about a mile from the accident)

my mom was substitute teaching at Nyack HS that day and she spoke of turning in the missing kids' attendance cards to the principal's office

I had a classmate who saw the whole thing eating breakfast with his family they lived right at the crossing

[rlrl]

he was a firefighter in the city--an article said this was his AM job

[rlrl]

i don't remember why he stopped in the middle of the tracks--was he found to be impaired?

[VA Yankee]

I was at Junior high when we got the word, it was horrible it seemed like everybody new of someone either directly or indirectly that was on the bus.