On March 27, 1996, while traveling on the Semester at Sea study abroad program sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh, Sara Christie Schewe was killed in a bus crash in India. She was on a Semester at Sea school sponsored trip to see the Taj Mahal along with over 50 other students. The road was treacherous by day, and deadly at night. Four students and three adults were killed. Three others were seriously injured.

Lack of highway safety standards make Indian roads an international hazard.

Seasoned travelers try to avoid bus travel in India, where 75,000 road accidents take place every year. To drive in India, says Lonely Planet Online, you need "nerves of steel and excellent karma." Indian drivers are known as "fearless and innovative," according to one Atlantic Monthly travel writer, and as a result, Americans abroad soon learn to travel by train. The subcontinent is criss-crossed with railroads laid down by British colonists, which adhere to a much greater standard of international travel safety than the highways. After Sara's death, we learned of other Semester at Sea participants who were shocked by the number of crash sites they passed on Indian roads.

It is our hope that sharing Sara's story will help inform both parents and students. Accidents can and should be avoided - not by prohibiting adventure and exploration, but by gaining access to more and better information about issues such as international highway safety. It would be Sara's wish.

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