Very scary morning

[KT0930]

My mom called me around 8:30 this morning and asked me what was going on, and I told her nothing (I had been asleep), and she said, "No, really, a school bus overturned in your area!" Ok, I'm wide awake now! I had to reassure her that my husband drives our son to school these days, so he's fine. Then after I got off the phone, I looked at the clock and realized all the buses at his school would have been at school over an hour earlier.

It's a middle/high school bus (they bus them together here), 27 kids on the bus, 2 critically injured, at least 20 others taken to local hospitals. I know it's not the kids from our subdivision, as they've released the school bus number, and it's not the one for here, but there are at least two families outside of our subdivision that we know pretty well who have kids that age. We just don't know them well enough to feel like we should call right now. Damn I hate this!

[willieandwinnie]

Katie, Just this past Friday there was a bus overturned in our area. It is scary to think we intrust these drivers with our children. In the case here, the driver was cited for driving to fast and not yielding the right of way. I'll say a prayer for those kids. 

[isurvived]

Wow, you are right, that is scary! Hopefully, everything will turn out OK. Sometimes, people don't pay too close attention to the buses or the kids. I think we have quite a few folks who are in my town that could slow down just a little bit around schools and buses, too.

[KT0930]

Looking at the aerial pictures, and figuring out where it happened, we think it's in an area where there's some construction going on, and it's quite easy to drop two tires off the road in a regular passenger car. I can't imagine trying to drive something as wide as a school bus through there. Also, the road is a main route to the next county, and a lot of people use it for commuting. When I'm working I have to turn off the road, and people are always passing me where they shouldn't only because they're in too much of a hurry to wait for me to make a right-hand turn.

[paris]

When we first moved to Raleigh, the bus drivers were high school students!!  One of my son's friends drove a bus and I wouldn't let my son ride in a car with this guy!  A seventeen year old driving a bus full of kids---well, guess who drove her kids to school?!  Thankfully, the drivers are now better qualified. 

Katie, what a way to wake up. Not a great way to start the day, but glad to know you son was safe in Dad's car.  I feel bad for all those families who didn't have good news this morning.

[petey]

KT -- I'm so glad your son wasn't on a bus this morning!  I'll say a quick prayer for the children who were on that bus.  This is a heart-stopping situation.

[KT0930]

I had just about calmed down and started thinking about other things, and now there's a news helicopter hovering over the house diagonally behind our house.  Nothing like that to keep you thinking about it!

One student was airlifted to the hospital, but I just found out that it was because he/she had lost consciousness. This student's injuries are not life-threatening. 10 others were taken to one of the higher-level hospitals in the area; 15 others were taken to the local hospital; only 1 was not transported at all.

This all happened on the main highway that runs through our community right outside our subdivision.

[Sluff]

This seems to be happening more and more these days. Everyone needs to slow down a little bit, it's just scary. I plow snow and it never stops to amaze me at how these drivers seem to drive faster on slippery roads then they do on dry roads. I have a hundred stories, but it all boils down to too fast for conditions.

[skyedogrocks]

Oh my gosh, this is scary.  I hope those kids are ok, I said a prayer for them.  So glad your son wasn't part of that! 

It's scary to trust our kids to the bus drivers, I get especially scared on the bad weather days.  My son and I were just talking the other day about the fact that most school buses do not have seatbelts (his is one of them).  I never understood why a school bus which carries children never had seat belts???  Thankfully the new ones do have them, but still!

[kellyt]

I will never understand the "seatbelt law".  We are forced by law to wear a seatbelt in our personal vehicles, work vehicles, etc.  But day after day they cram children into school busses without any safety restraints!  Now, someone may say "our school bus has seatbelts".  Not ALL do.  How does that law work exactly?   

[Ohio Buckeye]

Wow, that is a scary way to start the day and the week KT.
Glad your son was not on the bus.
Hope the other children are ok.
Paris - it is unbelievable that high schoolers would be driving a school bus.
That is beyond cmprehension. 

[KT0930]

Paris, I was also beyond shocked when I read that! There's no way I'd have had the confidence, much less the driving experience, as a high schooler to drive a school bus! My cousin taught school for a couple of years, and in her district, the teachers drove the buses, and I remember hearing that and shaking in my boots...and we were in our mid-20's by then!

Looks like everyone has been released from the hospitals and are ok. The driver is being charged with failure to maintain the lane (dropped the right-side of the bus off the pavement, overcorrected and ended up across the street with the bus on the side). Driving to the school to pick up my son this afternoon, the accident was only about 1/4 mile from the entrance of my subdivision...no wonder all the news helicopters were hovering over us! Quiet now, thank goodness!

[Sluff]

I drove 18 wheeler for about 8 years and believe me I have seen a lot happen out on these roads and it could happen to anyone. Some of the guys driving these trucks are way to over confident and that's not good either.

It used to be the speed at which we used to run them, triple digits across the plains, or the effects of uppers to stay awake, but as we have improved those conditions accidents still happen sometimes from too much confidence.

Driving a school bus with a bunch of kids is the most valuable commodity there is and only qualified drivers should be operating those machines.

[kidney4traci]

KT - Glad your son was not on the bus.  I do wonder if riding a bus would be safer if they had seatbelts on them.  Ours don't.  They overpack the bus with sometimes twice the amount of kids because they do not have enough drivers.  When the kids are in high school they are bigger, but they still try to put three to four a seat!!

[lola]

I just started working after being a stay home mom for 10years and guess what I'm doing? I'm a School Bus driver. So far I love it but we have to watch out for people at All times because people don't pay attention, I have at least 5 cars a day run my red lights and I have to grab or scream at kids to get back so they don't get hit. People don't give bus drivers enough credit try to keep your consitration with 40-50 screaming kids. The reason I was told we don't have seat belts is try getting all those kids out of them in a emergency. I live in MN and a lady just smashed into a bus after blowing thru a stop sign and killed 4 babies the bus tipped if those kids had been strapped in people may not have been able to get them out as fast and get them to the hospital in time. Just my 

[KT0930]

lola, that's terrible! Bless you for doing the job! I was trying to get to the hospital for labs last week, and a terrible storm that I didn't know about blew in, and I turned around and figured I'd go the next day. On my way home, I passed several school buses going the other direction (it was about time to start picking up elementary kids), and I thought there's no way I could do that job just because of days like that!

[kellyt]

I just started working after being a stay home mom for 10years and guess what I'm doing? I'm a School Bus driver. So far I love it but we have to watch out for people at All times because people don't pay attention, I have at least 5 cars a day run my red lights and I have to grab or scream at kids to get back so they don't get hit. People don't give bus drivers enough credit try to keep your consitration with 40-50 screaming kids. The reason I was told we don't have seat belts is try getting all those kids out of them in a emergency. I live in MN and a lady just smashed into a bus after blowing thru a stop sign and killed 4 babies the bus tipped if those kids had been strapped in people may not have been able to get them out as fast and get them to the hospital in time. Just my 

That does, unfortunately, make sense.  I guess they had to choose the lesser of two evils.  Horrible for the four who were killed, but wonderful for the many who were saved.  God Bless you for driving a school bus.  That must be a difficult job! 

[kidney4traci]

lola, my hat is off to you, that is one tough job.  I like our bus driver for my younger ones, he is strict but very personable too.  Just what my David needs to stay in his seat.  We are blessed to have him.  I drive my high school girl.  She is a freshman this year and we didn't know how bad the high school kids behave.  On the second day, there were kids smoking! and cussing and there was a fight in the row in front of her ( a tough girl from a neighborhood accross the way.  The bus driver pulled over to contain it, and called the cops even.  While waiting for the police, a kids opened up the back door and ran away!  Crazy stuff.  I don't know how the drivers handle that!  I understand about the seat belts, it is just sad anythime you see kids hurt. 

[kitkatz]

There is not enough money in the world to get me to be a bus driver!

[skyedogrocks]

That makes a lot of sense with the seatbelts, thanks for the explanation.  Bless your heart for being a school bus driver.   As Kit said, there is not enough money in the world for me to do that job, takes a LOT of patience!!