I'm a little confused here. Maybe you people are reading a different article than I am, but I see no
factual basis for making any assumptions on what caused this accident.
From what I read, the vehicle was stopped behind a school bus - so, since "...[t]he accident occurred in good weather along a straight stretch of road...", I'm not sure whether the brake lights are all that relevant. The truck speed at impact was sufficient to drive the "... bus ... 200 feet from where the car struck it." (
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182809,00.html)
Nothing I read in that article suggested that the underage driver was at fault in this accident.
It is certainly possible that the vehicle had no brake lights.
It is most definitely equally possible that the driver was cranked up on meth, drunk on his ass, running twenty minutes late and trying to make a delivery, or that solar fucking flares caused a brake malfunction in the truck.