Three Minnesota School Bus Accidents Within the Last Week

This past week there were two school bus accidents in Minnesota. One Monday night, as a group of kids from the Twin Cities were on their way back from a field trip and were hit by a vehicle that ran a red light. In St Cloud and Crookston, vehicles failed to yield and drove into buses.

The Minneapolis school bus was traveling on Highway 371 in Baxter when a car eastbound on County Rd. 48 ran the light. As a result three children on the bus injured and a passenger in the car was taken to the hospital. In the St Cloud collision, the driver of the truck that ran the stop sign was taken to the hospital. It was reported that all of the children doing fine. This was almost the same case in Crookston as the driver of the car was injured.

While each of these collisions could have been worse, it is always scary for any parent to hear that a school bus is involved. The most resent research indicates that 17,000 children end up in the emergency room each year after being injured on the bus. Hopefully, more consideration will be given to adding seat belts to these buses.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides a nice handbook that all children should review and parents should talk to them about. Each of my boys seemed to get something from it. I want to make sure on those days they take the bus they get back safely.