No injuries following truck striking school bus

East Prince RCMP are investigating an afternoon collision involving a vehicle and a school bus.

On Thursday, RCMP received a report at around 3:20 p.m. that a pickup truck had collided with a school bus carrying 26 children.

The incident, on Route 171 in Central Bedeque, was responded to and RCMP determined the bus had stopped to allow children to exit when it was struck from behind by the truck.

None of the 26 children suffered any injuries, nor did the drivers of the bus or truck.

The matter is under investigation but charges are expected under the Highway Traffic Act against the pickup truck driver. Some parents had expressed concern online that no one from Public Schools Branch made an attempt to contact parents of children on the bus to let them know their children would be delayed getting home.

John Cummings, director of corporate services with the Public Schools Branch, said situations like the one that happened Thursday are so infrequent that there is no set policy, but officials do their best to deal with them on a case-by-case basis. “Depending on the situation would dictate how we would approach that, to determine what the best notification would be for folks. I think yesterday (Thursday), from my understanding, other buses were there very quickly and were able to take the students home and were not deemed to be too late,” said Cummings. If the school and Public Schools Branch know a few hours ahead of time that a bus will be delayed and children will late getting home, an announcement is usually conveyed via local radio stations. If there isn’t enough time to do that, Public Schools Branch will, at the very least, inform the school so worried parents can call there and receive an update, he said.