A Weber School District bus carrying two Fremont High School special education students ended up in a ditch near 4000 North and 2975 West in Farr West on Monday afternoon, just before 3 p.m. The substitute driver behind the wheel was attempting to turn the bus around when it backed off the road shoulder and into the ditch. Both students and the driver were reported unharmed.
Driver Error Suspected in Shoulder Mishap
According to fox13now.com, the substitute driver was maneuvering the bus to reverse course when it slid off the shoulder and dropped into the ditch along the roadway. Weber School District officials said the accident appears to have been caused by driver error, though the review of exactly what happened is still underway. The Weber School District and the Weber County Sheriff's Office are jointly investigating the incident, per the same report.
Once the bus came to rest in the ditch, the district's transportation department stepped in quickly. The station's report notes that transportation was arranged to get the two students to their destinations, while a tow truck was called out to pull the bus free. As ABC4 Utah reported, the bus had reportedly been transporting the Fremont High special education students home to the Farr West area when it veered off the road.
A Tougher Crash Earlier This Month
The Farr West incident comes three weeks after a far more serious school bus crash elsewhere in Utah. On October 5, a motorcyclist was killed in a crash involving an Iron County School District bus in Cedar City, according to ksl.com. That bus, unlike the one in Farr West, had no students aboard because it was traveling to begin its pickup route when the crash happened.
Per ksl.com, the Cedar City crash occurred on State Route 56, also known as Lund Highway, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Investigators with the agency said the motorcycle had made a left turn on a yellow-arrow traffic light directly in front of the eastbound bus. The two incidents are unrelated beyond both involving Utah school buses, and no injuries resulted from the Farr West crash.
What Comes Next
For now, the Farr West case remains limited to what district officials and investigators have confirmed: two students and a substitute driver walked away unharmed, the bus needed a tow to get out of the ditch, and the cause appears tied to driver error during the turnaround attempt. The joint investigation by the Weber School District and the sheriff's office continues.
