School Buses Crash off Bloomingdale Avenue, 11 Students Injured
Two school buses collided shortly after 12 p.m. at the intersection of Bell Shoals Road and Bloomingdale Avenue.
Patch is currently on the scene of a crash between a Hillsborough County two school buses carrying Bloomingdale High School students at the intersection of Bell Shoals Road and Bloomingdale Avenue.
Fire Rescue spokesman Ronnie Rivera said 11 students have received "very, very minor injuries" and have been taken to Brandon Regional Hospital.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue responded with nine rescue units and six ambulances shortly after the accident, which took place at 12:04 p.m. Jan. 16.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the two school buses following each other were stopped at the intersection of Bloomingdale and Bell Shoals. When the light changed, the buses took off but the leading bus stopped suddenly. The second bus driver did not notice that the first bus had stopped and the second bus struck the first bus in the rear.
There were 54 students aboard the two buses. There was not a dump truck involved as originally reported by Fire Rescue.
Rivera said fire rescue is still evaluating students to determine if further injuries were sustained.
A school district representative is on the way to the scene to provide more details.
Carmen Tate
1:59 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Assured Clear Distance? No excuse for such an accident to happen. No Excuse!
James Patterson
7:46 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
They need to teach those damn bus drivers how to drive in the first place. Hell, I'm the one who lobbied to put seat belts on school busses, but those jack wagons in Washington are treating our kids like cattle; shuttling them around in those Screaming yellow death traps. I say we upgrade the entire bus fleet to at least a city bus level of comfort and safety.
Tina Jolliff
8:41 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
I saw this accident. I certainly believe we need to protect our children, but, the nine units responding to this was more than a little over kill. Notice it is reported that they had very minor injuries. These were high school students who could tell us how they felt. Not little children. The vehicles responding to the accident almost caused more accidents on Bloomingdale.
Mrs. Desh Bagley - TechPlayzone
10:23 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013
I'm very glad that no one was injured. I must admit, I was happy to receive the update from Patch. Instead of going that direction, I was able to plan a different route. Local, up to date news is so nice to have. Thanks D'Ann and Linda! Keep up the great work.