I have been in three school bus wrecks. The worst one is a topic for another day. The other two happened in two different locations but were almost identical otherwise. A big yellow school bus can get completely lost in a big morning sun. On both occasions, a vehicle plowed into the back of the bus at full speed without ever hitting the brakes, destroying the other vehicle but barely leaving a mark on the bus. They built those things like tanks, at least in those days. As a rider on the bus, there wasn’t much to either accident. I recall one little girl being thrown into the seat in front of her and getting a bloody nose, but she was fine after a few minutes. However, one of the two accidents could have easily been fatal.
I don’t know why the McDonough bus came into our area, but it did, and we were happy to ride it. Otherwise, the Hampton Junior and Senior High students would have had to take a bus into Hampton like everyone else and catch another bus to McDonough. The cool kids would sit in the very back of the bus, so that’s where everyone wanted to be. My friend was the first one on the bus, and he always grabbed the seat in the very back. I was a couple of seats forward of him but across the aisle. Unless and until the bus filled up, we would sit sideways with our backs to the side windows, allowing us to see each other and ‘shoot the breeze.’ On that morning, there were a dozen or so kids scattered on the bus when we stopped at the top of the hill just west of Oak Grove Road. That’s when a pick-up slammed into the back of the bus. Had it not been for one minor detail, the accident would not be particularly rememberable. There was no warning before the impact. However, right before the truck hit us, my friend ducked down into his seat. If you could have frozen time and taken a picture, it would have looked odd, to say the least. A fraction of a second later and you would hear the smashing of glass and the crumbling of metal. The minor detail? The truck had a ladder on it that popped through the bus’s back window, right over the seat where my friend was ducking. I don’t know where it would have hit him, but it would not have been good. Fortunately, the ladder was well attached to the truck and came in and bounced right back out. God was certainly watching over some children that day. What were your memories of riding the school bus?