After a steering component failed, a Michigan school bus driver guided her bus, which had a cracked windshield that limited visibility, between two trees and brought it to a stop. Photo courtesy Tuscola County Sheriff's Office

After a steering component failed, a Michigan school bus driver guided her bus, which had a cracked windshield that limited visibility, between two trees and brought it to a stop. Photo courtesy Tuscola County Sheriff's Office

FAIRGROVE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A school bus driver was credited with guiding her bus to a safe spot on Thursday, helping to avoid injuries in a crash that occurred while she was transporting a high school baseball team home from a game.

The bus driver told police that she lost steering ability while traveling on the roadway, according to the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. The school bus left the roadway and struck a mailbox and a road sign, which cracked the windshield, seriously limiting the bus driver’s visibility, the baseball coach aboard the bus told MLive. The bus then came to a stop in the yard of a residence. Several students were aboard the bus at the time, but no one was injured. An investigation found that a steering component had failed.

Even with the lack of visibility and the inability to steer, the driver was able to guide the bus between two large trees and bring it to a stop, according to the news source. The coach told MLive that in the 32 years he has been riding buses, “nothing like this has ever happened,” and that the driver should be “commended for the way she handled the situation.” Merrill Community Schools Superintendent Sarah Kettelhohn told the news source that she was thankful a veteran driver was at the wheel and that her experience and calm demeanor “kept it from being worse than it could’ve been.”

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