Student Injured in Marion County Bus Accident Reminds Us To Pay Attention To The Road and Know When to Stop for a Bus.

An automobile accident involving a Marion County school bus on Jan. 6 in Ocklawaha left one student hospitalized.  According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the school bus was waiting at a traffic light at the intersection of Southeast 100th Avenue and County Road 25 when a Hyundai sedan rear-ended it. 

The bus was transporting 42 students to Lake Weir High School when the accident occurred. The student was taken to Munroe Regional Medical Center with minor injuries, and a different bus arrived at the scene of the accident to take the students to school.  The driver of the car was cited for careless driving.

Luckily, this accident resulted in minor injury to only one student and minor damage to the bus; it could have been much worse!   In light of this accident, it is a good time to review two important safety guidelines and laws.

1. Avoid distracted driving - pay attention to the road at all times. 

The driver of the car was sited for careless driving when she ran into the back of a bus stopped at a traffic signal.  What could have caused the driver to not see the bus in front of him or her, or to not have stopped in time?  We do not know, we only know that the driver hit the bus.

As a local accident attorney that has seen the results of tragic bus accidents, I ask you to please keep both eyes in the road, both hands on the wheel, and your focus to the task at hand – driving.  In other words, avoid distracted driving.  Distracted driving is the number one cause of accidents and cell phone use is the number one cause of distracted driving. Do not use cell phones while driving!  

2.  Know when to stop for a school bus.

Even though this accident involved hitting a bus stopped at a traffic signal, it is a good time to review when to stop for a bus at the times when it has its lights flashing on the side of the roadway.  We can never be reminded too often that, you must always stop for a school bus with its lights flashing except if you are driving on a divided roadway with a 5 foot unpaved space or a barrier, traveling in the opposite direction of the bus.