May 14: 25 Years Since Carrollton Bus Crash

(Carrollton, Ky.) - Tuesday marks a quarter-century since one of the most horrific automobile crashes in U.S. history.

A road sign along Interstate 71 still marks the site of the Carrollton bus crash: “Site of fatal bus crash May 14, 1988.”

Twenty-seven people died in the fiery crash when drunk driver Larry Mahoney collided head-on with a church bus. Of the victims, 24 were children. There were 34 survivors.

The group with the Radcliff First Assembly of God Church were heading home from Kings Island amusement park in Ohio.

A documentary produced by crash survivor Harold Dennis will be premiered today in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It is titled “Impact: After the Crash.” A re-enactment of the crash was filmed for the documentary last November.

The Carrollton bus crash led to many safety changes on buses. The impact of the crash caused the gas tank on the bus to burst into flames which spread quickly through the bus. Regulations followed that require buses to have fuel tanks in a more-protected position.

The head-on collision with Mahoney’s truck caused the front door of the bus to be jammed shut. Buses are now required to have a set number of emergency exits depending on their size.

Larry Mahoney survived the crash. He finished serving a 10 year, 11 month prison sentence in 1999.

The Carrollton bus crash second-most deadly crash in the nation’s history.  Twenty-eight people died in the Yuba City bus disaster in California in 1976.