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In November 2022, officials from the Pennsylvania State Police, PennDOT, the Northeast Highway Safety program and Bear Creek Community Charter School held a media event outside the school to talk about recurring safety concerns regarding school bus traffic along Route 115.

A representative from a company contracted to transport students to and from the school recounted some harrowing examples of drivers completely ignoring all the safety efforts and state laws regarding a stopped school bus. Lights were flashing, an arm and a stop side extended from the bus to further reinforce the presence of children entering or exiting the vehicle.

Yet bus drivers had reported at least one case where a driver passed a stopped bus on the passenger side, and another where — very disturbingly — a driver had steered the vehicle onto a sidewalk to get around a bus.

And that’s just the drivers on the bus side of the highway. At the same event, a State Trooper pointed out that the highway has no physical divider, which means by law cars must stop on both sides of the road for a stopped school bus with signals flashing.

The lack of a barrier came into frightening focus Wednesday morning when a bus filled with about 50 children heading to the charter school crashed head-on with a flat bed trailer. A picture shows substantial damage to the bus. Fortunately, students suffered only minor issues, and the drivers of both vehicles had moderate injuries.

The uplifting part of the story: Response was swift and broad. Firefighters and emergency medical technicians from Bear Creek Voluntary Hose Co. and Laurel Run Fire Department arrived quickly, joined by Good Samaritans on the scene who readily pitched in. More assistance came from State Police, Greater Pittston Regional Ambulance, Plains Volunteer Ambulance and Trans-Med ambulance.

Another bus arrived to transport the children to the hospital, and Geisinger Wyoming Valley ramped up for a mass casualty incident to get the extra emergency room staff needed.

The crash was first reported around 8 a.m. By noon the road was cleared for traffic. Perhaps most impressively, by 2:30 p.m., Geisinger reported, 50 juvenile patients had been treated and released. Two remained under evaluation while the facility admitted the two adult drivers, one in fair condition, the other in good condition. Kudos to the hospital for the response.

In this instance, early reports suggest there was no negligence or recklessness on the truck driver’s part. State Police Captain Pat Dougherty, Troop P Commander, said a preliminary investigation indicated the driver suffered an unknown medical issue and crossed into oncoming traffic.

While there are a few stretches of 115 on its way through Bear Creek Township that might benefit from a divider, the site of this accident is not a likely candidate. It occurred near Laurel Run Road, an area with a substantial number of turn-offs leading to residential areas, including Bear Creek Village.

Yet the winding, sloping highway remains a constant traffic problem waiting to happen, despite some major changes in 2011 following some nasty accidents — narrowing much of the stretch to two lanes and making the other lanes left-turn only. Even those changes evoked complaints from people no longer able to pass slower vehicles, and from people watching drivers ignore the restrictions and pass anyway.

Which shines a light on the ultimate, and unattainable, solution: Drivers just need to slow down, accept the limitations and be patient — all the time. Until that magic moment arrives, we can prod PennDOT to keep looking for new solutions, and be grateful that, at least this time, when the inevitable accident happened, speedy responses and good fortune kept it from being the disaster we keep waiting to mourn.

– Times Leader