A car ran a red light and slammed into a DeKalb County school bus carrying 30 Lakeside High School students Friday morning, sending five of them to nearby hospitals for observation. The crash happened around 8:48 a.m. at the intersection of Briarcliff Road and Fisher Trail, according to district officials.
A passenger vehicle ran the red light and “made contact with the bus” as it carried students toward Lakeside High. DeKalb County School District Police responded to the scene, assisted with the incident, and evaluated the students on site. District officials reported no serious injuries, though five students were taken to nearby hospitals for further observation, according to CBS Atlanta.
The remaining students were transferred to another bus and continued on to Lakeside High School. The district has not released additional information about the hospitalized students or the identity of the other vehicle's driver.
A Familiar Stretch of Road
A fatal hit-and-run near Lakeside High School was reported in November 2021. Friday's crash also echoes an earlier incident this year in which Hoodline reported that a hit-and-run driver clipped a school bus during the morning commute elsewhere in the county, fleeing the scene without injuring any students.
Running a red light in Georgia is classified as a criminal misdemeanor under state law. Georgia Code § 40-6-20 allows for up to three points on a driver's license and fines reaching $1,000 when an officer issues the citation on scene, according to information compiled by GeorgiaTrafficTicket.net. It remains an open question whether the driver involved in Friday's crash will face those charges.
Why School Buses Tend to Protect Their Riders
Federal crash data helps explain why the five hospitalized students were held mainly for observation rather than severe trauma. A 10-year federal review published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in July 2026 found that occupants of other vehicles accounted for 70% of fatalities in school-bus-related crashes nationwide, while school bus passengers made up only about 6% of deaths, according to School Bus Fleet Magazine. Separately, roughly 96% of injuries children sustain in school bus accidents nationwide are described as minor scrapes, bumps, or bruises.
Lakeside High School, the destination for the bus involved Friday, enrolls approximately 2,234 students in grades 9 through 12 and serves the North Druid Hills and Northlake communities in unincorporated DeKalb County, according to demographic data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Georgia Department of Education. The school has also appeared in other coverage.
A Massive Daily Operation
The crash highlights the daily work of DeKalb County's transportation network.
The district is also in the middle of modernizing its transportation fleet. Whether the Briarcliff Road corridor near Lakeside High will see added enforcement or traffic cameras following Friday's crash remains unclear.
