An accident involving one school bus is bad enough but last week saw a San Antonio crash in which one bus slammed into a second one. Both buses had children on board at the time. While several children were injured, the crash killed one of the bus drivers.
Unsurprisingly, bus accidents can be extremely dangerous. Although school buses are designed to safely transport children, they are still large vehicles. Like all large vehicles, they involve a lot of power and can be cumbersome and difficult to drive.
This crash occurred around 7:30 a.m. during the morning commute. As the buses drove on opposite sides of a divided roadway near the entrance to a San Antonio high school parking lot, one of the buses began to swerve. Loaded with five students, that bus veered across the center median and slammed into a second bus. The collision killed the driver of the first bus, apparently on impact.
After the crash, the bus continued moving without a driver until it smashed into a fence and came to a stop. The second bus was carrying 59 students. None of them sustained injuries and they continued on to the school in a separate car. A medical crew met them there to confirm that they were not hurt. The five students on the first bus received minor injuries.
Given the potential destructive force of large vehicles like school buses, this crash could have been much worse. School districts and bus operators have a duty to ensure that drivers are qualified and medically capable before entrusting them with the lives of child passengers every day.
Source: WFAA-TV Dallas-Fort Worth, “One dead after two San Antonio school buses crash,” Oct. 1, 2012