All 23 students aboard an Orange County school bus escaped injury after a pickup struck the bus near Powers Drive and Silver Star Road on Wednesday. Three people in the pickup were taken to area hospitals, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The crash involved a 2005 Dodge Dakota traveling south on Silver Star Road. The truck’s driver did not slow for traffic ahead before hitting the bus, according to FOX 35 Orlando. FHP said the three people in the pickup were hospitalized; it has not released their identities or conditions.
An Orange County Public Schools official said the bus was taking students to Acceleration West. After the scene was cleared, the students boarded another bus and continued to school.
Investigation Still Open, Few Details Released
FHP has not released further details about what led to the collision, and the investigation remains open. The agency has not said when it expects to share additional findings.
The Orange County wreck is the latest in a string of Florida school bus crashes to draw attention this year. In a separate incident in Marion County, an off-duty Gainesville police officer driving a marked patrol car rear-ended a school bus just before 7 a.m., according to WFLA. That bus was carrying 13 students, and a 9-year-old passenger, the driver and a bus aide were all hospitalized with minor injuries, while the officer himself was hospitalized with what FHP described as very serious injuries.
A different Orange County bus incident
An earlier Orange County case involved a different set of circumstances: CBS12 reported on Jan. 17, 2024, that a 9-year-old boy was killed after crawling underneath a school bus stopped at the Waterford East Apartments. That fatal incident differed from Wednesday’s pickup rear-end collision.
No Word Yet on Citations or Charges
Back in Orange County, authorities have not said whether the pickup's driver will face citations tied to Wednesday's crash. For now, the only confirmed outcomes are the three hospitalizations from the truck and the fact that all 23 students walked away unhurt, with the investigation still open.
