A bus slid on a patch of black ice Thursday morning and crashed into a tree, sending 17 people to the hospital.
A bus was carrying 26 South Caldwell High School students at about 6:30 a.m. when it drove around a curve on Hurricane Hill Road in the Grace Chapel area of Caldwell County.
“It went around a curve and hit a patch of black ice and went straight instead of around the curve,” said Libby Brown, community services director for Caldwell County Schools.
The bus was going about 25 mph in a 55 mph speed zone, said Master Trooper Kevin Mulligan, with the N.C. Highway Patrol. The bus slid sideways down the curve and to the right off the roadway. It began to overturn, then hit a tree and stopped, he said.
Sixteen children and one adult were taken to Frye Regional Medical Center, according to Suzanne Fogleman, marketing coordinator for the hospital. All have been treated and released.
The bus the students were riding in, No. 253, was a substitute bus. The regular bus was in the bus garage for routine maintenance, Brown said.
The bus involved in the wreck sustained damage to its front side, near the doors and by the wheels, Mulligan said. He said it was an older-model, 1990s Chevrolet bus. Although he put the estimate at $5,000, he said the bus was probably totaled.
Some parents in the community have expressed concern that the bus was out this early in the morning when there was ice on the road. Brown said all school systems, including Caldwell County Schools, have a small window of time to make decisions about the weather.
“Administrators go out at 4 a.m. and travel different parts of the county to evaluate where would be difficult places to travel,” she said. “They contact other school districts who are doing the same thing.”
Brown said the protocol includes contacting the Highway Patrol and following weather alerts for the area.
“At 5:30 a.m., we determined the roads were OK,” she said. “There is a small window of time, before 5:45 a.m. when the buses get ready to roll, to make that determination.”
However, after 6 a.m. on Thursday, the temperature in the area dropped and fog blanketed the area.
“It created icy conditions, but the buses had already rolled out,” Brown said. “There were isolated spots with ice. It seemed like that area was worse than the rest of the county. The conditions changed quickly after the buses were already out.”
After the bus wreck, at about 7 a.m., Caldwell County Schools decided to operate on a two-hour delay because of the weather and road conditions. For students who were already on school buses, they were sent to their schools and supervised by staff at the schools, Brown said. Fewer than 10 percent of the student body was sent to schools early.
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