The Virginian-Pilot
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ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.
A pickup collided Tuesday with a bus carrying about 30 high school and middle-schoolers, leaving one student and the truck driver with serious injuries and others with cuts and head injuries.
The school bus was struck about 3:45 p.m. as it passed through the intersection of Main Street Extended and U.S. 17, said Trooper J.K. Jones of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. The bus spun and flipped before coming to a stop on its side across both lanes of Main Street Extended.
One student was airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, but the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, said Nikki White, a certified surgical technician with SterilMed who came upon the accident as she was returning home from work.
Two helicopters, rescue vehicles, police, highway patrol, parents and other emergency responders came to the scene. Word spread quickly through Elizabeth City as friends and family attempted to learn what happened. A grandmother on the way to the scene collided with another car less than a half mile away, White said.
"There were kids screaming everywhere," said White, who helped care for the injured. Most of the students were not seriously injured and were treated at Albemarle Hospital.
"To our knowledge, student injuries are minor to moderate," said Angela Noblitt, spokeswoman for Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools.
The woman in the truck had to be cut from the wreckage and was airlifted to a hospital, but Jones did not know the extent of her injuries.
One of the vehicles ran a traffic light at the intersection, Jones said. The small truck was likely going about the 60 mph speed limit when it struck the bus, Jones said.
Social workers will be available at both Elizabeth City Middle School and Pasquotank County High School for counseling today, Superintendent Linwood Williams said.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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Seat belts?
Just a quick question, but maybe someone here knows the answer. Why are seat belts not required on buses? I realize they don't always save a life, but in most/many cases they do. They are required in all other vehicles, even on airplanes on the airstip/road/tarmack. What's the rationale of not having our children buckle up on the bus?
Seat Belts
I am not sure why, but I know that they said that is the reason that the seats a padded well. I think it would require the bus to have an assistant to ride on the bus and make sure that the kids are actually wearing the seat belts.
This was going to happen, that driver is a menace!
Anybody who lives in my neighborhood in North E.C. will attest that the middle school driver on that route drives like an absolute menace! She constantly runs down our neighborhood street at what appears a very high rate of speed. She constantly speeds through turns and just doesn't seem to care. We don't know the full facts of this accident, but I am certain that they will interview all of the students. The way this bus driver drives, it would not suprise me in the least that she is the one who ran, or tried to beat the light. I pray that the kids and the driver of the other truck are ok. Good Luck to all.
School buses can only go
School buses can only go 45mph. If you had a problem with how how the bus driver drives in your neighborhood you should have reported it. Now is not the time to be passing judgement on others. Wait for the police report.
45mph?
Is this speed restriction applicable only in North Carolina? Is that a mechanical restriction or just an imposed speed limit on the driver? I know here in the Tidewater area buses can go up to 60-65mph so as not to impede traffic on highways.
You might be right but...
Even the witness who was interviewed used discretion when describing what she thought happened. The time to comment on the driver's habits were before this happened (to her or her supervisor).