Any accident in Fayetteville, North Carolina, can potentially result in injury or death. But drunk driving accidents are especially dangerous because intoxicated drivers tend to make serious mistakes that most sober drivers would never make.
Last Friday, a dozen students from Cumberland County schools were hospitalized after a drunk driver rear-ended their bus. Fortunately, none of the students were reported to have suffered any serious or life-threatening injuries in the crash. But a witness who helped the children on the bus after the accident said that the children were fairly frightened from the event.
The director of transportation for Cumberland County schools reported that the bus was struck by a pickup truck and was badly damaged in the crash. Two teenagers had been driving behind the truck prior to the crash. They told police that the truck had been swerving on the road before it rear-end the bus full of students.
According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, there were about 30 or 40 students on the bus who were being dropped off at their stops after school on Friday, Jan. 27. Around 4 p.m., the bus was making a stop for students on U.S. 301 near a hair salon in Wade. But before several students could safely exit the stopped bus, the vehicle was hit by a speeding truck. The force of the collision sent the bus about 100 feet from the site of the impact. Fortunately, the bus did not strike any other objects after the collision.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol reported that the driver of the truck has been charged with DWI and reckless driving.
Twelve students were sent to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center with bumps, bruises, abrasions and head and neck pain. Although no one suffered any life-threatening injuries in the drunk driving accident, the incident certainly may have caused many parents in Cumberland County to fear for the safety of their kids. Had any of the students been in the process of stepping off of the bus when the crash happened, the outcome could have been much more devastating.
Source: Fayetteville Observer, “Man faces drunken driving charge in Wade school bus crash,” James Halpin, Jan. 28, 2012