A Flagler County school bus with 27 high school students on board rear-ended a Dodge minivan at the intersection of Pine Grove Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway Monday morning, sending three people to the hospital with minor injuries. A fourth victim–a student–had minor injuries and declined medical attention. (The student’s parents arrived at the scene and took care of the student.)
The wreck took place at 7:38 a.m. It involved the Eagle bus (Bus Number 20514), a Bluebird, on its way to Flagler Palm Coast High School. It was driven by Carl Pierre.
“Preliminary indication,” Sheriff’s spokesman Bob Weber said, “is that the van was stopped in the center median, across from Pine Grove, waiting to make a left-hand turn southbound onto Belle Terre. Apparently the bus was at the stop sign at Pine Grove, and pulled out to go into the center median as well and struck the rear of the van.”
The van sustained significant damage. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the wreck, and hasn’t yet determined who was at fault. The three occupants of the van were all transported to Florida Hospital Flagler with complaints of back pain, Weber said.
The bus has minor damage, Mike Judd, the school district’s senior director for facilities, said. The bus was driven from the scene, but only to be taken back to the bus depot for repairs and analysis. The bus driver, too, was taken off the bus route for now, pending a drug test, Judd said: that’s normal procedure after any bus wreck. The students were transferred to a different bus, and taken to school.
Traffic was impeded on Belle Terre for about half an hour. Aside from the sheriff’s office, units from the Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue responded, while the Palm Coast Fire Police routed traffic. John’s Towing cleared the scene of the wreckage.
PC Rider says
Flagler live did an article a while back on the drivers not stopping at the stop sign at Bulldog Dr. The bus drivers in Flagler County should be the best drivers on the road. These drivers are responsible for many lives, not just the ones that are on the bus itself. It seems that the drivers have a false sense of security while driving these busses. The driver may feel like he or she is completely safe while sitting in such a large vehicle, but they need to remember they are not the only ones on the road. In this article it states that the bus “struck the rear of the van.” This is telling me that the driver of the bus was not paying attention to what was in directly in front of them. Where was the attention of the driver at the time of this accident?
Amber says
This might not have been the bus drivers fault. I have been on the bus last year. Kids are told to buckle up and yet persist to unbuckle the seat belt when departure takes place. The kids on the bus would throw things around and stand up and walk while the bus is in route to its location. Now tell me if YOU were a bus driver would YOU be able to take care of this issue while driving? what if there was a fight and there were multiple injuries. would you stay looking back to make sure the fight was ok until you could pull the bus over safely or would YOU keep driving and eyes on the road while they are breaking each others bones? There are many things a bus driver has to encounter while driving a bus full of brats. People in PC need to learn how to drive. They make illegal turns, run light, speed (with or with out pedestrians) and drive while intoxicated.
Not pointing fingers on who to blame but just putting my experiences out there to say it’s not necessarily the bus driver.
Melissa says
Hello everybody I was the 4th kid that was injured I have a l huge lump on my head and neck prob…. And they told my parents that i did not need any medical attion so they gave me a ice pack and sent me off to school ever since the accident I have been getting really bad headaces and I just want to go to bed but I dont want to just incase I have something wrong with my head……
Peace says
Glad it was minor. Looks like the mini van got the worse end of this deal.
blondee says
From what I can see from my own travels throughout PC, most bus drivers could use a refresher course on how to read speed limit signs!
Legally says
From what I see, the drivers in this county think there is a sign on the school buses here that states, “Pull out in front of me”, “Cut me off”, “Tail gate me”. It’s a shame. I have to laugh even harder when I see people on this blog questioning the behavior of the bus drivers, when they all should be ticketed and thrown in jail for what THEY do to the buses in this town, IN PARTICULAR, when MOST OF THE TIME, the buses HAVE CHILDREN ON THEM!!!