Bus Driver Cleared of Wrongdoing After Driving Into Snowy Field in Wallingford

A Durham School Services bus driver who swerved off Cooke Road and into a snowy field while driving students home from Dag Hammarskjold Middle School last week has been cleared of wrongdoing, according to the Meriden Record-Journal.

However, the driver was reassigned to a new route to focus on her job, a Durham School Services representative told the Record-Journal.

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A parent, Mary LeHerissier, posted several photos of the incident last week on Facebook (which were shared on the Wallingford Patch Facebook page).

In her post, LeHerissier said she has had many complaints about the bus driver and in this incident claimed the bus driver was speeding and saw someone driving down their driveway, swerved and skidded off the road into the field and nearly missed a farm fence with horses nearby.

There were four students on the bus at the time, including LeHerissier’s daughter.

The Record-Journal reports the investigation found that the bus was traveling 24 mph in a 25 mph zone, according to the GPS unit, and the driver swerved into the field to avoid crashing into a pickup truck that was backing out of a driveway.

A Wallingford school official told the Record-Journal that police weren’t notified about the incident and that the driver had downplayed what happened and the impression was that there was one tire stuck in the snow and not that she was in a field.

Read more at the Meriden Record-Journal here.

Photos courtesy of Mary LeHerissier via Facebook