A federal investigation into the devastating 2023 crash on Interstate 70 in Etna Township, Ohio, has concluded that truck driver inattention was the primary cause of the accident that killed six people, including three students.

According to NTSB findings released on September 24, 2025, the crash occurred just before 9 a.m. on November 14, 2023, when a semi truck operated by Mid-State Systems, Inc. failed to slow down for backed-up traffic caused by an earlier minor incident. The truck rear-ended vehicles in the queue, triggering a chain-reaction collision and fire that spread across multiple vehicles.

A chartered motorcoach carrying school children was among the impacted vehicles. Three students aboard the bus died, along with three individuals in a nearby passenger vehicle.

The driver of the truck, Jacob McDonald, was later convicted on six misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The NTSB report emphasized that in addition to the driver’s lack of attention and failure to respond to the slowed traffic, other contributing factors included:

• Ineffective traffic management following the earlier crash

• Lack of timely communication to motorists about the traffic queue

• Absence of a driver monitoring system in the truck

• A significant speed differential between the truck and slowed vehicles

• The severity of injuries worsened by the post-crash fire

To prevent similar tragedies, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations, including:

• Stronger federal guidelines for managing traffic queues and inter-agency communication

• New performance standards for collision avoidance systems in commercial vehicles

• Mandatory driver monitoring systems in trucks

• Tougher fire safety standards for the interior of motorcoaches

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy stated, “We’ve seen this crash scenario far too often—and it’s preventable. Proven technologies can warn drivers of slowed traffic and prevent collisions before they happen.”

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