One Adult Killed in School Bus Accident
On October 29th at around 7:30 a.m., a Leander ISD bus was involved in an accident with another vehicle. No children were on the bus at the time. The driver of the car died as a result of the crash.
The Friday Morning Accident
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), one person was killed in an accident involving a school bus in west Travis County on Friday morning. Multiple agencies, including STAR Flight, responded to the crash, but the DPS was placed in charge of the investigation.
Authorities report that a red car was traveling east on FM 1431 when it struck the westbound school bus. The reason for the collision is unknown at this time.
Following the crash, the unconscious victim was removed from her vehicle. Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) carried out “CPR & extensive life saving procedures in progress on the extricated patient”, according to an ACTEMS tweet.
At around 8:30 a.m., the team was able to restore the victim’s pulse and she was then flown to a hospital. Unfortunately, she later succumbed to her injuries.
The driver of the school bus was transported to the same hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At the time of the crash, the bus was empty because it was on its way to Cedar Park Middle and High schools to pick up students.
While the investigation of the scene was underway, police closed FM 1431 and instructed drivers to avoid the area and expect delays.
Bus Accidents in Texas
When it comes to auto accidents, school bus crashes can be particularly upsetting. Thankfully, they are also relatively rare: there were a total of 611 auto accidents involving school buses in Texas in 2020. Given the fact that there are nearly 9,000 schools operating in Texas, that means that less than 10% of all schools will experience a bus accident each year.
One common myth about school bus crashes is that they can be more dangerous due to the fact that these vehicles don’t have safety belts. Thankfully, this isn’t true. In fact, school bus passengers are slightly less likely to be involved in a crash than passengers in cars. Passengers of non-school buses were even less likely to be involved in a fatal accident.
In Texas, most auto accidents occur in urban areas rather than rural ones, and the same goes for school bus accidents. This is hardly surprising considering that Texas’s top-three largest cities make up more than 60% of the state’s population.
What may come as slightly more of a surprise is the fact that nearly twice as many fatal school bus accidents occurred in rural areas compared to urban areas. This also follows a statewide trend of rural accidents being more dangerous in comparison to those that happen in cities.