One man has been killed and several children injured in an accident involving a school bus in Newton County, Georgia, according to reports from local authorities.
The accident occurred on Georgia Highway 36 near the High Point region, on Friday 29 March, according to a spokesperson from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.
The director of public relations for the Newton County School System, Sherri Davis-Viniard, has been in correspondence with the press with updates about the accident. According to Davis-Viniard, the school bus was transporting students from Indian Creek Middle School when the accident occurred, at the intersection of Moore’s Road and the Georgia Highway 36.
Georgia State Patrol officer Gordy Wright later confirmed that there was a head on collision between the school bus and a passenger car. The driver of the passenger car, who has been identified as 21 year old James Alexander Cooper of Covington, died in the accident.
According to eye witness reports, Cooper was attempting to make a left turn onto the highway from his house. He appeared to misjudge the distance of the oncoming bus, and pulled into the bus’s path. He was killed instantly. Wright said that there will be no charges filed in the accident, although a thorough investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing. There is no evidence of aussie pokies negligence or reckless driving on the part of the school bus driver, who has an immaculate safety record.
Emergency personnel were dispatched immediately to the scene where they declared Cooper dead. Of the 16 school children who were on board the bus at the time, only one sustained minor injuries, and no children had to be transported to hospital. All of the students were thoroughly assessed at the scene and were discharged home with their parents, said Davis-Viniard. Another school bus was also dispatched to the accident scene to transport the uninjured students home. The bus sustained significant damage and will more than likely be totalled.
Newton County School District officials and deputies from the Georgia State Patrol are investigating the accident, and will issue an accident report some weeks from now. NCSO lieutenant Tyrone Oliver said that Ga. Highway 36 was closed for several hours following the accident, in the High Point area, in order to clear the scene. Traffic was rerouted on to the Henderson Mill Road southbound and the Channing Cope Road to Ga. Highway 162.