Dungannon, VA — A school bus carrying nearly 30 students was involved in an accident on Monday of this week near Dungannon, leaving 12 with injuries — 4 of which were in serious condition. The accident happened on Monday afternoon, August 24, 2015 at about 3:30 p.m.
The news said that bus driver David Kinkead, 48, was headed along Twin Springs Road that afternoon, headed north, when he says a dog ran out in front of him.
Kinkead swerved the bus to the side to avoid hitting the dog, which caused him to lose control and crashed into the side of a cliff.
The accident left 12 students on the bus with injuries and 6 of them had to be taken to a hospital. Of that number, 4 were considered to be in serious condition. Right now, it looks like Kinkead is facing charges for failing to maintain control of the bus.
Map of the General Area
Commentary:
By all accounts, it seems like this bus driver had no choice but to swerve the bus and miss the dog. Some might call that improper evasive maneuvering, however, but that’s something that would ultimately have to be decided by a jury, not folks like you and me. The way I see it, it’s a noble thing to avoid hitting an animal in the road, but bus drivers do have to be especially careful so as not to hurt their young passengers. In fact, I would think that an animal in the road would be one of the situations bus drivers are trained for, since so many lives are at stake each day on the bus.
I don’t want to sound like I think this bus driver did the wrong thing here, because I don’t. But on the other hand, we don’t exactly have a lot of information to work with. Did anyone witness this accident? Does anyone know whether there was really a dog in the road that afternoon? Is it possible there are some things here we’re just not seeing?
— Grossman Law Offices
