Contractors, level of experience varies

Wednesday’s crash marks the fifth school bus crash in the past 11 school days — the 35th this school year.

The school district has 42 contractors who provide bus drivers to the schools, Hardesty said. All six buses involved in the past five crashes have had different contractors, he said, and Wednesday’s crash involved contractor F&S Transportation.

“It really is a rash of bad luck,” Hardesty said.

Two crashes occurred Dec. 20, in which Rills Bus Service and Sunset Bus Service were involved, according to Hardesty. In the morning, a Rills bus transporting special-needs students hit a guardrail in Finksburg, though no injuries were reported. Later that day, two adults and one child were taken to the hospital after a U-Haul truck and a Sunset school bus collided in Hampstead.

On Jan. 8, two Carroll County school buses crashed in Woodbine after unexpected snow squalls swept through the county. Three students suffered minor injuries and one 16-year-old boy was taken to Carroll Hospital to treat a head injury. The bus contractors were Seiler Bus and Bauer Bus, according to Hardesty.

On Monday, there were no injuries after a vehicle tried to pass a Johnson Bus Service bus and the two collided in Marriottsville, Hardesty said.

The years of experience of the drivers involved in these crashes also varies. One received bus driver certification as recently as May 2018, while two others have been certified since 2000, Hardesty said.