School bus safety information

Safe Havens, International

School Bus Filled with Students Involved in Accident

Carmel, IN
Police Dispatchers confirm a school bus filled with high school students was involved in an accident early Tuesday morning.

The incident occurred on 136th Street just west of Meridian Street just before 7:30 a.m. An official from Carmel Clay Schools says no students were injured in this incident and the accident was very minor.

Students are sending texts to their parents letting them know they are OK.

Another school bus is coming to the scene to transport the students to school.

Safe Havens, International

Back to School - School Bus Safety Tips

New York, NY
My school district begins classes on August 1, with other districts in the area beginning within the next few weeks.  That means that those big, yellow school buses will be back on the road.

There is an excellent article at the link above that offers safety tips for parents and school personnel to teach our children, after offering up some startling statistics.  "According to a Department of Transportation study revised in March of 2011 (DOT HS 396), about 19 children die each year in school bus accidents -- either as riders or nearby pedestrians."  School buses are among the sturdiest, safest vehicles on the road, yet 19 children die each year.  So what can be done?

The article goes on to list some important safety tips:

- Orderly, Polite Behavior Required at All Times. Children must be reminded to never push or shove others while boarding, riding or exiting a vehicle. They should always wait for the driver's permission to either enter or leave a bus. Bullying behavior, verbally or physically, is strictly forbidden on buses -- just as it is in school;

- Regular Use of Handrails. Holding on to these while getting on or off a bus can prevent many falls;

- Exercise Great Care When Moving About in School Bus Danger Zones. The areas right behind a bus and on both sides of it (near the front) are especially dangerous. Tell your children about these areas and remind them that drivers often fail to see kids moving around in these areas;

- Use Crosswalks and Never Jaywalk. Drivers often panic when they see a large number of kids. Be sure to remind your children that it can be very risky to try and cross any street outside of the crosswalk area or at an intersection;

- Kids Should Carry Safely Packed Backpacks. Make sure your kids pack their backpacks safely and leave everything inside while riding the bus. It's just too easy to drop things or injure others by handling backpack items while the bus is moving;

- Make Sure All Bus Stops are in Safe Locations. If you question the safety of the location of a particular bus stop, take your concerns immediately to the school district and try to get the stop moved to a safer area. School bus accidents often occur when kids jump out of the vehicles in poorly marked locations;

- Take Extra Care When Crossing in Front of a School Bus. Kids should always wait until a bus driver clearly indicates that it's safe for them to cross in front of the bus before they start to do so. Some buses have automatic placards that provide this signal;

- Never Disembark to Pick Up an Item Dropped Out a Window. Tell your children that if they accidentally drop something out a window, they should tell the bus driver so they might be given a safe opportunity to retrieve the item. No one should ever throw any object out a window while playing on a bus;

- Cell Phones Should Not Be Used While Riding Unless an Accident Occurs. While it's okay if your kids call you after an accident, tell them to try and wait for instructions from the driver (or any other adult on board) before calling or trying to exit the vehicle;

- Check on the Driver's Personal Safety Record and Experience. Ask your school district if it can provide you with a copy of the most recent background check done on your child's school bus driver. Such checks should be routinely made by the district at least once or twice a year.

I am the Director of Transportation for my district.  My drivers will be teaching these points, and others, to the children.  It would be a great idea for parents to teach this at home as well.  I've had to visit children in the hospital after a school bus accident.  Fortunately, their injuries were not severe.  Nonetheless, it was a horrible feeling to look at a child who was under your care lying there hurt, even if it wasn't your fault.  It would even be even worse if it were my child.

Be on the lookout for those big yellow buses, and the little ones they carry.

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Top Summer Child Injuries Parents Should Know

Chicago, IL
More children will visit the emergency room this summer due to near-drownings than another other type of injury. The onslaught of summer and all of the fun kids have at parks and pools also brings unfortunate injuries and tragedies. The most common summertime child injuries result from unsafe playgrounds, bicycle accidents, burns from campfires and fireworks, motor vehicles, and water hazards at pools, beaches and lakes.

Throw in the two recent deaths from drownings here in Indianapolis,  and the problem becomes deadly serious.  The tragedy is that most injuries and deaths are preventable.  Keep your children supervised when they are swimming.  Don't assume their swimming ability will keep them alive, especially in unknown waters.

Supervision is key to prevent other injuries.

An Inside Look: Carmel Bus Crash

Carmel, IN
Surveillance video gives an inside look at a bus crash May 23, when a driver lost control of his bus and crashed into a house in Carmel.

The video, exclusively obtained by 24-Hour News 8 through a public records request, shows the driver, Jack David Thomas - who was not wearing his seat belt - thrown from his seat during a turn from Gray Road onto Main Street in Carmel.

It's a vivid illustration of what one bus safety expert told 24-Hour News 8 after the crash.

“Even simple bumps or small fender-benders can cause the driver to fall out of the seat if they're not wearing the belt, down the stairwell, leaving no control of the vehicle,” said James Johnson of IMMI, which manufactures safety systems for school buses.

Ohio Crash Kills 3 Teens, One on Graduation Day

Cincinnati, OH
A car carrying five teenagers went airborne as it sped over railroad tracks in northeast Ohio early Sunday and crashed, killing the 18-year-old driver hours before his high school graduation and two of his passengers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

The other two passengers, one of them also an impending graduate, were hospitalized.

Less than 13 hours after the crash, Brunswick High School students left empty seats covered with flowers at their graduation ceremony to remember driver Jeffrey Chaya and Kevin Fox, who was critically injured.

"It was very sad," Superintendent Michael Mayell said after the commencement ceremony at the University of Akron. "There were a lot of tears."

Nebraska Crash Kills Two Basketball Coaches, Injures Eight Students

Ansley, NE
Nebraska authorities say a pickup truck crashed into a van carrying high school basketball players on Friday, killing two of their coaches and another man.

The accident happened along Highway 2 in rural central Nebraska just west of Ansley, a small town about 160 miles west of Lincoln.

The State Patrol said the van's driver, 38-year-old Zane Harvey, and his front-seat passenger, 24-year-old Anthony Blum, were killed. The truck's driver, 70-year-old Albert Sherbeck, also died.

The patrol says Harvey and Blum, both coaches at Broken Bow High School, were driving students home from a basketball clinic in Kearney when an eastbound truck crossed the centerline and hit their westbound van head-on.

School Bus Crashes into Home in Carmel

Carmel, IN
A school bus crashed into a house in Carmel Wednesday morning.

Chopper 8 flew over the scene and a bus appeared to have collided with the corner of a brick home. The bus appeared to have been southbound on Gray Road when it left the roadway and went through a fence and backyard before striking the corner of the home's attached garage.

Officials with Carmel Clay Schools said no children were on the bus. The school bus driver suffered minor injuries and was being taken to a local hospital. School spokesman Tricia Reynolds said the school system will investigate the incident.

Friends and Family Mourn Brownsburg Teen Killed in Crash

Brownsburg, IN
Friends and family spent Sunday mourning the loss of a Brownsburg teenager, who was killed in a car accident Saturday morning.

18-year-old Nathan Gentry was killed in the crash , and four others were hurt.

Police said Sunday they believed alcohol, marijuana, and excessive speed may have been factors in the crash.

They say charges could be recommended to the prosecutor’s office.

Three teens involved had attended Brownsburg high school, and two attended Tri-West.

School Bus Crash: 50 Injured in Georgia Crash Involving Six School Buses

Newton County, GA
Six school buses taking some 200 middle school students to Six Flags crashed today in Newton County, Ga., leaving more than 50 people injured, state officials said.

There were a total of around 200 students from Burke County Middle School in Waynesboro, Ga., on the six buses, according to a spokesman from the local office of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

One of the bus drivers, Angela Anthony, 44, from Midville, Ga., was airlifted from the scene of the crash on westbound I-20 to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta with serious injuries, according to Georgia Department of Public Safety spokesman Gordy Wright.

A total of 50 other people were taken to Newton Medical Center for complaints of injury, he said.

Two Mount Olive High School Students Hit by School Bus

Mt. Olive, NJ
Two Mount Olive High School students walking to school were injured and taken to the hospital after they were hit by a school bus as they crossed Corey Road on Thursday morning, May 17.

According to police, a 911 call about the incident was received at 7:02 a.m. Police responding to the scene interviewed several witnesses to the crash and determined that sun glare affected the school bus driver's vision, police said.

The two teenage students were transported to Morristown Medical Center for minor injuries sustained as a result of the crash. Both students are female. One is 15 years old, the other is 16.

The police department was assisted by the Flanders Fire Department and an ambulance from the Hackettstown Regional Medical Center.

Houston Humphries-Rigel: A Sheepdog You Should Know

St. Lucie, FL
It's not only soldiers who suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome. Just ask Houston Humphries-Rigel, who's had to endure two incidents in the past six months that have sent her stress levels off the charts.
The 29-year-old mother of two was one of the first people on the scene of the March 26 school bus accident that took the life of one child and injured many more.

Humphries-Rigel was honored this week by the St. Lucie County Commission for her "gallant action" in comforting the accident victims.

Muncie School Bus Crashes, Sending Several to Hospital

Muncie, IN
Multiple students were sent to Ball Memorial Hospital Tuesday morning for bumps and bruises after a school bus struck a pole in Muncie.

Police dispatchers say a Muncie Community Schools bus hit a pole in the parking lot of Northside Middle School. In all, 23 students were taken to the hospital, but none were seriously injured.

21 Portland Students Evacuated after School Bus Teeters over Street Edge near Sandy

Sandy, OR
Twenty-one schoolchildren were safely evacuated from a school bus this afternoon after it slid off a road north of Sandy around 1 p.m. and teetered over the edge, authorities said.

The driver reported the front wheel of the bus got caught in soft mud, pulling the bus off the wet road at about 5 to 10 m.p.h., said Sgt. Adam Phillips, spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

Greenville Father Blames "Irresponsible Gun Owners" For Child's Deat

Greenville, SC
Greenville County schools will make counselors available to students and those who work at Berea Elementary School to help them after an 11-year old student was shot and killed on Saturday evening.
Now the Greenville City Police Department and the Coroner’s Office are trying to piece together what happened moments before his death.

11-year old Davius Boyd was found dead inside a home on Willard Street just before 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Boyd was a 4^th grader at Berea Elementary School.  Police say there were three minors inside the home at the time of the shooting.

A Fiery Crash but Sturdy School Bus

Seguin, TX
Three weeks ago, four buses equipped with flame retardant seats, laminated glass windows and a roof that could support one and a half times its weight were purchased by the Seguin Independent School District.

One of those buses was put to the test Friday morning when an 18-wheeler clipped a Chrysler PT Cruiser, setting off a chain reaction that left 13 people hospitalized, including a man in critical condition and nine children, and four vehicles charred and mangled. Eight of the children were released to their parents later in the afternoon.

No one died.

Student Struck by Car on Way to School

Oak Forest, IL

A 26-year-old Oak Forest woman was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk in connection with the accident, in which neither speed nor alcohol was a factor, Oak Forest Police Chief Greg Anderson said.

The student, who has not been identified, is making “baby steps” toward progress and was in critical but stable condition at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, school officials said.

He is a popular, well-liked student who was to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society on Monday night, Forest Ridge School District 142 Supt. Margaret Longo said. An induction ceremony will be held in the hospital when the student is up to it, she said.