An Ector County ISD school bus carrying 14 students crashed into multiple parked vehicles Thursday afternoon near the La Promesa Apartments in Odessa, Texas, and video of the collision is now circulating online. According to Odessa police, the driver failed to control speed, left the roadway, struck a parked trailer, and continued into other vehicles. The driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and cited for failure to control speed. Remarkably, no serious injuries were reported among the students, the driver, or anyone on the street.
The district says the driver has more than 20 years of experience and will be retrained and recertified if allowed to return to a route. ECISD is also conducting its own investigation. The crash raises familiar questions for any community: how often are bus drivers evaluated, and does a long tenure automatically mean a safe record? Here on the Suncoast, thousands of students ride buses through Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte county neighborhoods every school day, and parents place enormous trust in the person behind the wheel.
We want to hear from you. If your child rides a school bus, how confident are you in the district’s driver screening and training? Let us know in the comments or give us a call on the air.
