Car rear-ends Marlington school bus day after scary crash
MARLBORO TWP. − A day after a Marlington Local school bus with 19 high school and middle students overturned into a ditch, a woman driving a Chevy Impala on state Route 44 rear-ended a Marlington bus with 14 Marlboro Elementary students Tuesday afternoon, police said.
No one on the bus in Tuesday's accident was injured, said Marlington Local Superintendent Dan Swisher, who rushed to the second school bus accident scene in so many days. No one needed medical treatment or needed to be taken to a hospital.
Parents drove to the scene to pick up four students. The remaining roughly 10 students were transferred to another bus accompanied by Marlboro Elementary Principal Kitty Mort and they were taken home, said Swisher. Mort informed each of the parents picking up their kids what had happened.
Township Police Chief Ron Devies said the driver of the 2017 Chevy Impala, a Salem woman who recently lived in Alliance, was cited for failing to provide for assured clear distance.
Related: Police: Marlington school bus with 19 students overturns; no serious injuries
What happened in second Marlington school bus accident?
Devies said the accident Tuesday took place shortly before 3:29 p.m.
The woman was driving her Impala north on Route 44, also Ravenna Avenue NE, behind the school bus, also going north on Route 44 which slowed down and had turned on its flashing lights to drop off a student just south of Pontius Street NE.
The woman told police she looked down, didn't see the bus ahead of her had slowed down and ended up driving into the rear bumper. She was not injured. Both the bus driver and the driver of the Impala were wearing seat belts.
Devies estimates the woman in the Impala was driving 30 to 35 mph.
The accident scene is nearly three miles north from Marlboro Elementary on 8131 Edison St. NE.
Route 44 was closed for about 35 minutes.
“Safety for the students first. We're going to get through this," he said. "When I got the call, all the flags go up especially after yesterday."
One day later
On Monday afternoon, a Marlington Local bus driver failed to keep control of the bus with 19 high school and middle school students while going around a curve on Columbus Road NE near Beeson Street NE in the township. The bus went off the right side of the road, overturned and rolled over into a ditch, landing on its right side. The students were able to exit the bus through the emergency back door.
No one suffered serious injuries, but the driver and five students were taken to three area hospitals before being treated and released. The Ohio Highway Patrol cited the driver for failure to control a motor vehicle. Swisher said that driver is on administrative leave while the school district awaits the Patrol releasing its crash report, before deciding on disciplinary action.
Devies said motorists need to be aware of school buses that are slowing down to pick up or drop off students.
"There’s three more days of school this week," he said. "Let's keep our fingers crossed.”
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly known as Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Car rear ends Marlington school bus with 14 students
