2 Students Fatally Struck by Truck While Running Toward School Bus
The 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl run into a Virginia road when they see their school bus approaching, yellow lights flashing, in the opposite lane. A tractor-trailer driving in that lane is unable to stop in time.
DILLWYN, Va. — A tractor-trailer fatally struck two children here who ran into the road to catch their school bus on Thursday morning, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
Virginia State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller told the newspaper that at about 7:40 a.m., six students were waiting at a bus stop when two saw their bus coming in the opposite lane, and ran into the road toward the bus and in front of a tractor-trailer in the opposite lane of traffic. The bus did not yet have its red flashing lights on and hadn’t deployed its stop arm. The bus driver told police that she frantically motioned to the children to get out of the road when she realized that the truck wouldn’t be able to stop in time. The truck driver braked immediately, but was unable to avoid the children, Geller told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. The boy, 6, and the girl, 5, died at the scene.
No charges are expected to be filed against the truck driver, Geller told the newspaper. She added that an investigation by the state police’s motor carrier safety unit found several equipment violations on the truck, but none of them affected the tractor-trailer’s ability to stop or avoid the crash. The superintendent of Buckingham County Public Schools told The Richmond Times-Dispatch that the bus route and stop meet state regulations.
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