LEE COUNTY, Fla. — An 18-wheeler rear-ended a school bus Wednesday afternoon in rural Florida, sending five students to the hospital, according to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP).
An FHP report stated that the big rig, driven by a 34-year-old Seffner, Florida, man, was driving behind the bus heading north along U.S. 19 when he failed to stop in time after the bus stopped.
The bus, which had its flashing red lights activated, had 10 students on board, ranging in ages from 8 to 13, according to authorities.
Five of the students were transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Two were listed in serious condition.
The School Board of Levy County released the following statement about the accident on its Facebook page:
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to them, as well as all of our school students, families and staff. Crisis counselors are present at Yankeetown School today and are available to our students and staff. Please continue to pray for those who were injured and impacted by this tragic accident.”
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
A clear day. The sun shouldn’t have been a problem. If the bus had its red warning signals working, it only points to one thing. Driver error. Now the police will look for the possible reasons. Tired, drugs or alcohol, medical emergency, or the idea of distracted driving. And you can bet the lawyers will seeking money and scrutinizing the company with a microscope.
It’s 100% driver error a professional driver would know enough to assume that school bus was going to stop before its lights ever came on secondly a professional driver knows to have the proper following distance this was no truck driver this was a steering wheel holder not paying any attention to the job ahead and this is exactly what happens when unprofessional steering wheel holders drive semi trucks people get hurt and in the worst cases like this children get hurt! The driver should face time behind bars to discourage this from repeating.
You can NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. BOTH DRIVERS ARE AT FAULT. It takes 2 to CAUSE AN ACCIDENT. IF ghe bus decided to just STOP & Give NO PROPER WARNING to other Drivers then it’s the BUS DRIVERS FAULT. Hope the Truck Driver has Dashcam Video to prove it was the Bus Drivers Fault, If not the truck driver will only receive a couple of tickets and he will be able to keep moving on.
I’m a driver that goes from Dallas to Houston 5 days a week and everyday I’m astounded by the number of truck drivers I see with their phone in their hand either texting or reading I can’t say how many times I’ve had to blow my horn to get them to pay attention to what they’re doing and then they have the nerve to be pissed off at me
IF YOU BLOW YOUR HORN AT THEM, Don’t be surprised WHEN YOU RECIEVE AT TICKET FOR UNREASONABLE USE OF YOUR HORN. IF THAT DRIVER GETS INTO AN ACCIDENT, YOU ARE AT FAULT
And I bet they all run into school buses every day even though you so valiantly trued to prevent it
Super EGO is Always SPEEDING & RECKLESSLY DRIVING. I seen them BLOW PAST Me & almost hitting me. I have called their company to report their drivers already & they Claim they take Safety very Seriously.
My cousin use to work there they don’t give a damn bout safety they let the drivers get on any drug they want and you get to run many hours as you want their out of Chicago close to Chicago
Not knowing what happened I will assume the bus, just like they do here, did not flash yellows for 4 seconds before stopping and instead slammed on the brakes and started red immediately.. Not giving the truck time to stop.. Happens here all the time.. Give busses a wide berth because of lack of drivers knowledge on driving a semi