Winter Weather Contributed to Ritchie County School Bus Crash

January 28, 2011 - Harrisville, W.Va. - One person was sent to the hospital for evaluation Wednesday afternoon after a school bus crashed in Ritchie County.

WBOY reports that the accident occurred at about 1:48 p.m. Wednesday on State Route 16 just outside of Harrisville. The Ritchie County school bus was travelling southbound on the roadway when the driver lost control of the bus as it neared a left hand curve.

The back of the bus collided with a guard rail, sending the bus into the northbound lane. The bus then went down into a ditch and up onto an embankment, where it crashed into a tree.

There were 24 students on the bus at the time accident. One student is said to have suffered a nose injury. That student was treated and released to her parents.

The driver of the bus was suffering from back pain after the school bus accident. The driver was taken to Parkersburg Hospital and has since been treated and released.

The students were taken to Harrisville Elementary School by a second bus. Emergency Medical Services officials were at the school to get medical releases from the parents of the students.

According to Captain Bryan Davis of the Ritchie County Sheriff's Department, road conditions were poor at the time of the accident because of winter weather conditions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2009 West Virginia Crash Statistics show that there were 356 fatalities as a result of car accidents in West Virginia.

In an effort to raise awareness of common factors in serious and fatal car accidents in West Virginia, our firm routinely publishes news items about traffic crashes in our region.

Common West Virginia accidents include, but are not limited to:

• single-car crashes;
• tractor-trailer accidents;
• accidents caused by hazardous road conditions; and
• distracted driver crashes.

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