School Bus Involved in Collision Injuring Several Students in South Carolina

CONWAY, SC- Counton2.com writes that a school bus and a truck collided earlier this week near Conway. The early morning collision led to several of the students sustaining injuries.*

The incident occurred on Highway 501. Reports indicate that there were 42 students on board when the collision occurred and that four required hospitalizations. 

The incident caused traffic delays in the area. 

Images from the scene show a yellow truck with severe front-end damage at the back of a school bus. Police say that the person operating the truck did not suffer injuries. 

School buses are required to meet some of the strictest safety standards on the road. These vehicles have safeguards to protect students in rollovers and other crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), school buses are about 70 times as likely to get students to school safely, as are passenger vehicles. 

While many people are disturbed by the fact that school buses often do not have seatbelts, the buses are meant to protect occupants without this feature. Each year, seatbelt bills come up in state legislatures, but they rarely make progress. Studies indicate that the resources required to make such a change would have a bigger impact if they were used in other ways. Students are most at risk when walking to or from these vehicles. While buses have stop sign arms to inform drivers not to pass them, it is not uncommon for motorists to defy this or fail to notice these signs. Some buses are equipped with cameras that capture images of drivers who violate the stop sign arms. 

Accident News is a safety and education initiative from Montlick & Associates, designed to help people better understand and thereby avoid common accident causes.  To learn more about our injury prevention programs, including iridesafe.com - click here. We hope you are never in an accident, but if you or family member are injured, call Montlick & Associates 24/7 for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) or use our live chat at Montlick.com.

Sources:https://www.counton2.com/news/south-carolina-news/several-students-taken-to-hospital-after-crash-involving-school-bus-near-conway/ and https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/school-bus-safety and https://www.napt.org/Files/Advocacy/NCSL%20School%20Bus%20Safety%20LegisBrief%20Dec%202018.pdf (PDF Auto-Download)