Trucker struggles to stop big rig as he barrels toward school bus, Ohio video shows
An 18-wheeler narrowly avoided crashing into a school bus full of children in Ohio, after the driver couldn’t bring the big rig to a stop, video shows.
The close call happened around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 19, the Montville Police Department told news outlets.
The school bus was stopped and picking up students, video shows, and a line of three vehicles sat waiting in the oncoming lane for the bus to finish loading up.
Behind the bus, a semitruck-trailer was barreling down the road. The trucker inside is yelling in horror — “stop, stop, stop” — as he closes in on the bus, but is apparently unable to brake, dashcam video shows.
The big rig’s horn blasts as it approaches. A pickup in the oncoming lane reverses. Bus passengers see and hear the truck coming, but there’s little time to take action.
“Oh good God he ain’t going to make it,” a woman says on the video.
Seconds later, the pink 18-wheeler rolls by, shooting through the narrow gap between the bus and waiting traffic.
“That scared me,” a child says on the video.
The trucker later told Montville police that he had tried to stop but wasn’t able to quickly enough, WJW reported.
“He realized he couldn’t stop in time and he began down shifting, blowing the horn, hitting the lights, flashing the lights and doing everything in his power to alert everyone, the oncoming traffic the car behind the school bus and the bus that he’s coming through and he’s not going to be able to stop,” MPD told the outlet.
Police credited the driver’s “quick and professional actions” in a social media post.
“What would have been a major crisis was avoided and many lives were likely saved,” police said.
The driver was eventually able to come to a stop about a quarter of a mile from the school bus stop, police told WEWS.
From there he headed to a truck yard, and contacted police later in the day, explaining that his brakes had failed, police told the outlet. Police are investigating the incident, and investigators want to know why the driver went to a truck yard first, knowing that he was driving a faulty and dangerous vehicle.
Police said charges may be pursued, the outlet reported.
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