Car totalled, minor injuries after car hits school bus
NORTH TRYON – A section of the Trans-Canada Highway was shut down in North Tryon Wednesday morning after a small car collided with the back of a school bus.
The car sustained extensive damage, but the driver and passenger, a mother and young son, were not seriously injured.
The 26 school children on the bus, which was headed to Englewood School in Crapaud, were also unhurt.
A mother of one of the children, Lisa Gallant, was in her laundry room when she heard the crash.
She had just sent her son, Hunter, out to catch the bus.
“It’s terrifying,” said Gallant. “It sounded like someone smashed into my house.”
She was standing on the side of the road without a coat when the fire trucks arrived. She said Hunter was in the aisle and stumbled when the car hit the bus. He was not injured.
The driver of the car was in a nearby vehicle as she waited for paramedics to arrive. She had a few cuts around her face, and a clean cloth was wrapped around her left hand.
She told a reporter at the scene she was just pulling out from home and was not up to highway speed. When she saw the bus, it was too late, she said.
Crapaud Fire Department, Island EMS and East Prince RCMP responded to the incident. The students on the bus were checked out by a Crapaud firefighter who is also a paramedic before they were allowed to transfer to a replacement bus and carry on to school.
The driver and passenger were treated at the scene by Island EMS.
Gallant didn’t blame the driver of the car.
“Honestly, that sun this time of day, she probably didn’t see the bus.”
alison.jenkins@journalpioneer.com