A Suffolk Public School bus was sideswiped by a late model Ford vehicle while traveling on Pughsville Road late in the afternoon of Tuesday, September 15, 2015. Although no injuries were reported as a result of the crash, the damage to the bus was reported as substantial and the bus may no longer be operable following the accident. More than 40 students were on board the bus at the time of the incident.
The students on the bus were all attendees of Creekside Elementary School. They were en route home from school when, for reasons that have not yet been made clear, the bus and a Ford Fusion sideswiped one another, leading to heavy vehicular damages but resulting in no one being hurt. First responders evaluated all passengers and both drivers, releasing everyone on scene. Some students finished their journey home on board an alternate bus, while other students’ parents arrived after the incident to transport their own children home.
A portion of Pughsville Road was closed and detours set up following the crash for a short time following the accident. Parents of students attending Creekside Elementary were contacted and informed about the incident, and officials from the school district stated that the Creekside principal would be following up with concerned parents about the incident later in the evening.
According to data released by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, there were more than 500 school bus crashes in 2014—the last year for which crash data was made available—more than 270 of which resulted in injuries to bus occupants. However, there were no deaths attributed to traffic accidents involving school buses for that same year. School bus crashes accounted for only half a percent of all traffic accidents on Virginia’s roadways in 2014.