School Bus Collides With Turkey

A bus carrying 13 students is traveling along a highway when a large turkey flies across the roadway from a ditch, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Thomas McMahon・Executive Editor

March 17, 2017

School Bus Collides With Turkey — A school bus carrying 13 students was traveling along a highway when it hit a large turkey that flew across the roadway. Stock photo by Grendelkhan via Wikimedia Commons

1 min to read

A school bus carrying 13 students was traveling along a highway when it hit a large turkey that flew across the roadway. Stock photo by Grendelkhan via Wikimedia Commons

GIRARD, Kan. — Why did the turkey cross the road? Probably because it didn’t see the school bus coming.

That was the unfortunate setup for an incident in southeastern Kansas on Thursday.

According to a crash report from the Kansas Highway Patrol, a school bus was traveling westbound on a highway at about 1:30 p.m. when it struck a large turkey that flew across the roadway from the north ditch.

The bus was described as a 2000 Freightliner operated by Unified School District 250.

There were 13 students ranging in age from 15 to 17 on the bus at the time, according to the crash report. One of the students, a 15-year-old girl, was listed as having a possible injury. The other students were not injured.

School bus driver Edward Eichenberger, 49, was treated at the scene for a possible injury. He was not transported to a hospital.

Another adult on the bus, Shea McLaughlin, 36, was not injured.

The Kansas Highway Patrol report noted that Eichenberger was wearing a safety restraint, but the school bus was not equipped with seat belts for passengers.

The crash report did not indicate the outcome for the turkey.

Topics:Kansas school bus crash Management Safety

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