Elizabeth City Bus Accident Leaves Several Students with Injuries
A North Carolina traffic accident involving a school bus and a pickup truck has left the truck driver and several students with injuries. The Elizabeth City bus collision happened on Tuesday at around 3:39 pm at the US Highway 17 and Main Street intersection when one of the motor vehicles ran a traffic light.
The pickup truck struck Bus 137, which was carrying 42 students from Pasquotank High School and Elizabeth City Middle School. The school bus overturned, and 11 people were hurt.
Most of the students sustained bruises, joint injuries, bruises, and cuts, or experienced back or neck pain. One student suffered an asthma attack. Another student, age 15, started having seizures and was flown to a hospital for treatment of possible head injuries. The bus driver also was injured in the North Carolina bus accident.
The pickup truck’s driver, a woman in her 50’s, sustained multiple trauma and she may have internal injuries. She had to be cut from her vehicle, which had pinned her in.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been 1,409 school transportation-related crashes since 1998 resulting in 1,564 injuries, which breaks down to approximately 142 deaths/year. School-transportation-related collisions usually involves a school bus vehicle or a non-school bus that is used to transport kids to and from school or school-related activities.
Most school buses don’t have safety belts installed in the passenger seats, This can place students at risk of serious injury during a North Carolina bus crash. Kids can easily get thrown on top of each other, or into the front, back, or sides of the vehicles involved. In the event that the school bus were to overturn, students can easily strike their heads on the bus roof, resulting in injuries to minors.
North Carolina school bus accidents can happen because a driver, another motorist, or another party was negligent.
Students injured in school bus accident Tuesday, Daily Advance, January 27, 2010
Students injured in Elizabeth City school bus collision, Hampton Roads, January 27, 2010
Related Web Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
School Transportation News
