The tragic wreck on Highway 6 Monday that left one dead, was the second in as many weeks for the bus involved.
According to South Panola School District Transportation Director Robert Chapman, the first accident that occurred on Thursday of last week was a minor "scrape" near Wal-Mart.
"It was a minor accident," he said. "The bus and another car bumped, it was nothing major."
Chapman said he has not had time to investigate the first wreck because of the time he has put in to the fatality accident.
"I haven’t even had a chance to get a copy of the accident report," Chapman said.
As for the second wreck, Chapman said it did not appear the driver was at fault.
According a parent whose child rides the bus, the driver had asked on numerous occasions if she could pull off to the side of the road in order to drop off riders.
"The driver knows it is a major Mississippi Department of Transportation no-no for a bus to pull off to the side of the road," Chapman replied.
Chapman said if the bus were allowed to pull off the road way, it could cause confusion and lead to more accidents.
"If a person is following behind the bus and sees it pull over, the first thing they might think is the bus is having problems," he said. "If that’s the case, the other drivers on the road may just speed on by instead of stopping and that could result in a child getting injured.
"The general public wants you to do it, but they don’t understand you are putting more children at risk when you do," Chapman said.
Mississippi State Law says all vehicles must stop for busses when the stop arm of a bus is out.
"When state law says everyone has to stop for a bus, that seems to be the safest option," he said.
Chapman said the driver took every precaution to make sure the students on the bus were safe.
"The driver used her stop arm and her warning flashers on top of the bus," he said. "That’s all a driver can do in a situation like this."
Chapman said the driver has been told in the past to pull off the highway and drop the children off in the parking area of the restaurant near the Crossroads intersection.
"The biggest problem is not where the children are being dropped off," he said. "The problem is the road they are being dropped off on.
"It seems like everyone who drives up and down that stretch of road is driving between 65 and 80 mph," he said. "That is the problem that needs to be resolved."
Chapman said when people are driving that fast down the road they may not notice that a bus is stopped or may just ignore the stop arm.
One thing Chapman believes could remedy the situation is having signage of a bus stop area near the intersection.
"We need bus stop loading zone signs up at the intersection to let people know they should be ready to slow down," he said. "And another past the stop.
"Hopefully that would help prevent another accident like this one," Chapman said.
Carly Baker, fourth grade student at Pope in Ms. Chandler’s class won the Batesville Jr. Women’s League essay contest.
Sarah Atkinson, fourth grader at North Delta, is the winner for her Grandmother-of-the-year essay. She is the daughter of Billy Atkinson.
Emily Hopper, fourth grade student at Batesville Middle School in Ms. Patton’s class received an Honorable Mention in the Mother’s Day essay contest.
