Nearly a third of those in a Navasota ISD convoy traveling to Houston on April 18th were injured in a multi-vehicle accident, but the district’s superintendent says none required hospitalization.
Dr. Stu Musick says 94 5th grade students and staff of John C. Webb Elementary were in three district buses traveling down Highway 290 for a field trip to the Museum of Natural Arts when he got a report about 9:15 that there was an accident about half way to Houston.
Musick reports the last bus in the convoy was struck from behind by a dump truck of some sort that caused that bus to rear-end the second bus, so there were a total of two buses involved.
The crash put the third bus entirely out of commission and it had to be towed away, Musick adds. And although the second one received significant damage, he adds, it was still drive-able.
Everyone in the crash was checked out at the scene, Musick says, and they ended up with about 25 students and five adults plus two of the three drivers transported to some area hospitals. There were some minor injuries, he admits, but at the end of the day everyone was cleared and released.
NISD buses are three years old or newer and only have seat belts for the driver, Musick tells Navasota News, but the students’ seats are designed to absorb most of a crash’s impact and are actually safer for the children than the average family car, provided, of course, they remain properly seated.