Elk killed by school bus

[Crunchy]

Elk Killed In Collision With School Bus
Posted: 9:27 am PDT October 22, 2009

A Boisfort School District bus with children on board collided with an elk near the town of Vader in Lewis County Thursday morning.

The Washington State Patrol tells KIRO 7 Eyewitness News the bus was travelling about 40 to 45 mph when a big Bull Elk jumped onto the road.

Troopers tell KIRO 7 that neither the children nor bus driver were injured in the collision. The elk was killed and the school bus badly damaged.

The school district could not immediately tell us how many children were on the bus at the time of the crash. Troopers said the elk meat will actually be harvested and brought to local food banks.

In August, Lewis County sheriff's deputy Stephen "Mike" Gallagher died in a collision with an elk while on his way to provide backup in a domestic violence incident.

The 34-year-old was traveling on Highway 12 near Packwood when his cruiser collided with the animal.

[fishm@n]

Great to hear none of the kids were injured. I always wonder about that since they are not belted in on a bus. Sounds like the driver did the smart thing and hit the elk rather than swerve to avoid it and flip the bus.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

I always wonder about that since they are not belted in on a bus.

Statistically, school buses a the safest vehicles to be in on our roadways (occupants per million miles traveled.)  Seatbelts on buses; lots of pros and cons that would take up the whole page.

Most dangerous vehicle; hate to say it, but it's an ambulance!

Glad to hear the driver and kids were OK.

[Angus]

Statistically, school buses a the safest vehicles to be in on our roadways (occupants per million miles traveled.)  Seatbelts on buses; lots of pros and cons that would take up the whole page.

Yep, with the exception of the drivers seat, I would rather be unbelted on a bus then belted into most any other vehicle other then a big rig.
Drivers are trained to hit rather then swerve.