Most parents assume that when they put their children on a bus to take them to school that they will make it to their destination unscathed. They do not expect that the bus will be involved in a crash with another vehicle. They particularly do not expect that the bus their child is occupying will collide with another bus full of children. This very thing happened late last month in a community located in Western Pennsylvania.

The incident occurred in the afternoon, apparently as the bus was taking the children, who were in grades kindergarten through fifth, home. One of the buses reportedly rear-ended the other one, hard. After the incident, neither driver reported the crash to the authorities. In addition, the school district that owns the buses did not immediately contact the parents of the children. The drivers claimed no children were injured in the incident so there was no need to call 911.

The parents of the children likely do not agree with the assessment of the drivers. Following the collision there were multiple calls regarding the children involved in the incident suffering injuries common to rear-end accidents. Among other things the parents reported that their children had whiplash, concussions and sprains. One child said he hit his head against the window of the bus.

Everyone knows that children look to adults to assist them in things they are unable to handle themselves. Accordingly, it is expected that those in charge will take the steps necessary to protect and when necessary advocate for them. While it is bad enough that the accident even occurred, it was made that much worse by the failure of the drivers to take responsibility for reporting it. Hopefully none of the children were seriously injured and will not suffer lingering effects, either physical or emotional, as a result of the incident.

Source: KDKA, "School Buses Full Of Students Crash, But Police Not Notified," Brenda Waters, March 1, 2013