3 students hurt after Wake County school bus crash

A Monday crash in Wake County has become at least the fifth incident involving a school bus in the past two weeks. State data shows crashes involving school buses have slightly increased over the past three years, but have remained relatively steady.
Posted 10/6/2025, 9:12:11 PM Updated 10/6/2025, 10:00:08 PM

ABOUT THE 4 CHILDREN. HE LEAVES

BEHIND.

>> RIGHT NOW AT 5 O'CLOCK, IT

HAS HAPPENED AGAIN. IT WAS

BREAKING NEWS THIS MORNING WHEN

A WAKE COUNTY SCHOOL BUS

CAREENED OFF THE ROAD AND INTO

A TREE LINE ON THE WAY TO

SCHOOL NEW AT 5, WE'RE LOOKING

INTO THE RECENT STRING OF

CRASHES INVOLVING SCHOOL BUSES.

THANKS FOR JOINING US. I'M

GERALD OWENS AND I'M ASHLEY

ROW. IN THE PAST WEEK WE HAVE

REPORTED ON 5 SEPARATE CRASHES

INVOLVING SCHOOL BUSES.

>> 3 HAPPENED IN JOHNSTON

COUNTY WITHIN A 24 HOUR SPAN

FRIDAY. A BUS IN WAKE COUNTY

WAS IN A CRASH AND AGAIN THIS

MORNING IN WAKE COUNTY WRAL'S

CARLY HAYNES IS LIVE IN

RALEIGH. CARLY, YOU LOOKED INTO

WHAT THE DATA IS SAYING ACROSS

THE STATE.

>> YES, AND WE WE WE'VE SEEN

THIS. WE IT FEELS LIKE THERE

HAVE BEEN MORE SCHOOL BUS

CRASHES RECENTLY. SO WE WANTED

TO SEE WHAT THE NUMBERS ARE

ACTUALLY SHOWING. WE LOOKED

INTO THE PAST 3 YEARS. AND

THESE ARE CRASHES INVOLVING

SCHOOL BUSES ALTOGETHER.

AND NOT JUST THOSE WHERE THE

DRIVER IS AT FAULT.

AN UNEXPECTED STOP DURING A

DARK AND FOGGY MORNING COMMUTE

WHEN A WAKE COUNTY SCHOOL BUS

DROVE OVER A FALLEN TREE BRANCH

IN THE ROAD OF US EVER RAN OVER

IT.

>> AND THE BUS LIKE UP IN THE

AIR AND STARTED SHAKING AND

THEN WE SERVE IT TO THE SIDE OF

THE ROAD LAST THURSDAY, A CRASH

AND APEX WE SEPTEMBER AND

JOHNSON COUNTY, A TRASH TRUCK

AND BUS COLLIDE. IT'S THE DAY

BEFORE THAT SURVEILLANCE VIDEO

SHOWS AN SUV HITTING A BUS

HEAD-ON. WE SEE FAR TOO MANY

EVERY YEAR. WE SAT DOWN WITH

THE HEAD OF THE GOVERNORS

HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAM. WE

OBVIOUSLY SEE MORE DURING THAT

TIME THAT THE SCHOOL YEAR IS

STARTING AROUND THIS SEASON AND

THEN IN ADDITION TO THAT, WE'VE

ALSO GOT ON, YOU KNOW, THE

SEASONS.

>> CHANGING AND AS A RESULT,

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

>> IS COMING. ACCORDING TO

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

DATA SCHOOL BUS CRASHES HAVE

SLIGHTLY INCREASED SINCE 2022,

THOUGH, FATAL ONES HAVE

DECREASED LAST YEAR. THERE WAS

A TOTAL OF

1125 CRASHES, 3 OF THEM DEADLY

AS FAR AS INJURIES TO STUDENTS.

THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC

SAFETY ADMINISTRATION SAYS

RIDERS ARE NEARLY 8 TIMES SAFER

BEING IN A BUS AND IN THE CAR

WITH A PARENT OR GUARDIAN DUE

TO ITS LARGE SIZE AND ENERGY

ABSORBING SEATS, SCHOOL BUSES

ARE INCREDIBLY SAFE THEN AND WE

HAVE STATISTICS BOTH NATIONALLY

AND IN NORTH CAROLINA PROVE

THAT A MOTHER NOT FULL PROOF, A

RELATIVELY STEADY TREND OF

© WRAL