SCHOOL BUS CRASH
REPORTS 2004
School Bus Flips Over With Elementary School Children Inside
October 13, 2004
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ATKINSON - Frantic moments for local parents after a
school bus crashed into a ditch. The crash happened around 3:00 p.m.
on the Atkinson blacktop (Spring Street) about two miles north of the
city. Fifteen children and the bus driver went to Hammond Henry
Hospital and one student is still there tonight. |
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"I got out
of my ambulance, went around the side of the bus, some kids were lying down,
some were sitting there. The bus driver had gotten them all pretty
organized," explains an EMT who
responded to the call.
The bus was
dropping off students from Atkinson Elementary School when it veered off the
road and flipped onto its side. The site of the accident was a construction
zone, where crews were laying blacktop.
Some
witnesses speculate the six inch drop off from the new blacktop to the
shoulder of the road could have contributed to the accident. "They probably
went off the edge and tried to overcorrect. It looks to me like maybe that
contributed," says Steve Swanson,who works for the company repairing the
road.
A couple of
parents say they blame the road itself for the accident. They say it's too
narrow for trucks and buses. They've tried to get the city too widen the
street before, and they say after this tragic accident, they plan to try
again.
By Karetha Dodd
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Crash Reports 2004
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