Two semis and a school bus were involved in West Virginia crash that sent nine children to hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The accident occurred at around 7 am on August 26, 2014, near the intersection of Cornstalk Road and U.S. 35 in a rural area northwest of Southside, WV.
According to the Point Pleasant Register, the at-fault commercial truck driver hit the rear of another tractor-trailer that had stopped behind the bus, which had pulled over to pick up students. The force of that impact propelled the middle semi into the school bus, which led to the injuries to the children. The newspaper also noted that the location of the accident is a place where the rural highway narrows from four lanes to two, forcing all vehicles to merge and leaving little room to swerve to avoid collisions.
Police issued tickets to the trucker who initiated the wreck for going too fast for traffic conditions and for failing to maintain control of his vehicle. The other tractor-trailer operator involved in the crash was not blamed for anything, but he did sustain minor injuries.
As school resumes, parents have understandable concerns about the safety of their children riding school buses. Sadly, accidents involving buses are fairly frequent, in part because drivers such as the semi operator who caused the crash in West Virginia either ignore or miss signals to stop for loading and off-loading buses. Regardless of whether that trucker was distracted, fatigued, negligent or reckless, the outcome was the same and similarly avoidable.
EJL