Distracted Driver Hits School Bus, Said Was Trying to Change Music

A driver tried to change songs while driving and crashed into a school bus as a result.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, at 10:51 a.m. local time, a school bus with Rockingham County Public Schools was traveling east on Jefferson Highway in Louisa County, Va., when a distracted driver sideswiped the vehicle with their car, according to Virginia State Police (VSP).

Police said there were 40 total passengers on the bus, which was headed to the State Fair of Virginia, according to local ABC affiliate WRIC. Among them were middle school students from both Elkton Middle School and Wilber S. Pence Middle School, as well as some chaperones, per WRIC.

The group of students and chaperones were in the yellow bus when it was sideswiped by a 2003 Subaru Impreza, causing it to veer completely off the road, according to state police. 

The Subaru “crossed the double solid lines into the westbound lanes and struck the front driver’s side wheel of the school bus,” the VSP said in a release obtained by PEOPLE.

Both vehicles lost control as a result of the collision, and the school bus “veered off the right side of the road, down an embankment, and into the trees,” police added.

Meanwhile, the Subaru “spun twice before striking a guardrail,” per authorities, which said the car’s airbags deployed.

The man driving the Subaru was transported to the hospital with injuries police described as “serious,” while the bus driver and multiple other passengers — one chaperone and at least two students — were also hospitalized with “possible injuries,” the VSP said.

When asked about the crash, the Subaru driver told investigators that he had been “distracted while attempting to change songs on his phone,” according to police. He was cited for failure to obey lane markings.

Photos of the aftermath of the crash show severe denting and damage to one side of the Subaru. The front of the school bus, meanwhile, was entangled with a tree in the embankment, the body of the bus tilted completely to one side.

All lanes reopened at 12:42 p.m., according to state police.

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In a statement obtained by WRIC, Larry Shifflet, superintendent of Rockingham County Public Schools, said, “We are working in close collaboration with the first responders who were on the scene, and we are grateful for the outstanding cooperation and support provided by the Louisa County School Division as we managed the response.”

Shifflet also said the district will continue to provide support and any further updates to the students involved, as well as their families, per the outlet.