A school-bus driver who allegedly accelerated over dips in a Colorado Springs roadway, injuring several children, has been cited for careless driving resulting in injury.
The incident occurred Friday in the 3300 block of El Morro Road.
According to Lt. David Whitlock, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Police Department, Tammy Williams, 24, a driver for School District 2, was eastbound on the street.
She apparently slowed for a first set of dips in the street, but then accelerated and didn’t slow down for a second set of dips, said Whitlock.
While going over the second set of dips, a number of children were tossed into the air. Some landed on their seats, but others were thrown out of their seats, including one child who fell out of the bus through a rear emergency exit.
Several of the children were injured.
Whitlock said today that investigators have not yet determined just how fast Williams was going, and there is no recording device in the bus to record its speed at the time of the incident.
He said that the bus was not equipped with seat belts, which are not required by state and federal regulation.
According to investigators, the bus was examined and found to be mechanically sound. Williams received her Colorado Commercial Driver’s license in February and had been driving the route where the incident took place for about three weeks.
Records indicate Williams received training and was aware of the hazards involved in negotiating bumps and dips, said Whitlock.
A video has been recovered from the bus and will be used as evidence, said the police spokesman.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
