I know the driver of the car (the 15 year old) had nothing at all to do with this terrible accident...but it struck me when reading this story....WHO the HELL would let a 15 year old KID drive a car around and have responsibility for 2 other 13 year olds, a 9 year old, a 2 year old and a 20 month old in that car!?!? Are the parents fools or what? That's insane. I swear people are just plain stupid. Either way, it was a terrible thing that happened...but it was in the first place a very stupid thing to let this kid drive off with all those young kids in the car. And by the way, 6 other people in the car? That's 7 by my math. So unless she was in a large SUV, they were way over the legal limit for even a 5 passenger sedan.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/03/bus.crash/index.html

"The driver of the car was 15-year-old Cynthia Nicole Mann, who had six other children, all but one related, in the car with her at the time. Two of the children were 13 and the others were 15, 9, 2 and 20 months. Mann's parents were in the process of adopting the 20-month-old.

In Florida it is illegal for a 15-year-old to drive without an adult being in the car.

Mann, who had only a learner's permit, was stopped behind a school bus and talking on her cell phone when the semi truck smashed into her January 25"

 

The town this happened at is only about 50-60 miles from where I live and I have been through there before. It is a very small town of only a few hundred and is located mainly on back roads. There are no major roads in this town. It is a town where everybody knows everybody. I know in areas like that it is common for people to start learning to drive earlier. I will agree with you that if she would not have been driving in the first place, all seven of them may still be alive now. But she was driving and obeying the traffic laws. In a story I saw today, the truck driver had very little sleep in over 36 straight hours. Would as big of a fuss been made about this story if the girl had been legal to drive, I doubt it. I don't think this can be blamed on anyone but the truck driver for trying to drive while tired.

Oh and by the way. I have been following this story since it happened since it is nearby. I don't think I have seen any reference in any story about her being on a cell phone at the time of the accident.

 

If the truck driver would have not caused the accident, she may have not gotten caught(she probably has driven before). Also, if she wasn't there, more children inside the school bus may have died or been injured if the truck hit the bus directly. I hope the driver doesn't take off, or leave the state seeing as he does not even want to cooperate with authorities even at the advice of his lawyer.