Facebook lit up shortly after 3pm, January 17th, with a simple post on a neighborhood group that there were several emergency vehicles at the intersection of Highway 2 and Deer Park Milan Road.  It was soon revealed that a logging truck had struck a Riverside School bus. “What happened was a bus was taking kids home heading east on Deer Park Milan and a logging truck was heading south on Highway 2. It was apparent to the bus driver that it was not going to stop for the red light. The truck had hit ice or something, so the bus driver went through the light and turned into the left lane of traffic, because no cars were there, to avoid a major collision. The logging truck then clipped the back of the bus,” says Ken Russell, superintendent of Riverside High School. Initially there was confusion about which bus was involved in the collision, but it was made clear that the bus was number 18, doing bus 25’s route. 

According to some of the eye witnesses, the roads were bare and dry. It was said that the logging truck was simply going too fast and could not stop in time for the red light; this resulted in, of course, the minor collision. 

Reading between the lines of the Facebook post and comments, one could feel hearts hit the floor as everyone waited for updates on the safety of the kids on board. Luckily, it was reported that there were only 3 minor injuries, and paramedics were quick to arrive on the scene of the accident.