Cell phone contributes to crash involving school bus

From EdmondSum.com:

Mark Schlachtenhaufen
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND — An Edmond teen talking on his cell phone caused a three-car accident involving a school bus Tuesday morning, police said.

Glynda Chu, spokeswoman for the Edmond Police Department, said an Edmond school bus was traveling to John Ross Elementary School when it was struck by a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer being driven by Dillon Hart, 17, of Edmond, shortly after 8 a.m.

The accident occurred at the East Danforth Road-Boulevard Avenue intersection. Hart was driving westbound on Danforth and turned in front of a 2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette traveling eastbound on Danforth, Chu said.

Chu said the first car in line at the intersection was a 2009 Honda Accord driven by an Edmond woman. The school bus was in line behind the Honda and was hit head-on, she said. The Honda was sideswiped.

“There were six children and the bus driver on the bus,” Chu said. “No children were injured. The momentum had slowed so that by the time the bus was impacted the children reported they only felt a bump.”

Chu said the bus driver, Monty Childs, 42, and the driver of the Oldsmobile suffered minor injuries and were transported by private vehicles to Edmond Medical Center. Hart admitted to talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash, and he was ticketed for failure to yield at an intersection, police said.

Childs said his bus was waiting at the light for the light to turn green when he saw the SUV and minivan collide. A car bounced off another car and ran into the bus, he said.

“No one went by ambulance, which is a good thing,” Childs said.

The momentum of the crash carried the vehicles over the divider curb at the intersection to traffic waiting at the light northbound on Boulevard, Chu said.