
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                    TAG: 9406150461 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B3    EDITION: FINAL   
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940615                                 LENGTH: VIRGINIA BEACH

3 SCHOOL BUSES AND TRUCK COLLIDE, HURTING 14 STUDENTS AND A DRIVER

{LEAD} Three school buses and a pickup truck collided Tuesday on Independence Boulevard, sending 14 students and one bus driver to hospitals with minor injuries, police said.

All the buses were from Independence Middle School, police spokesman Mike Carey said.

{REST} The accident happened about 12:45 p.m. in the left lane of southbound Independence Boulevard, near the Pembroke Boulevard intersection.

The driver of the first bus, No. 496, slowed and began pulling onto the grassy median because her students were acting up and throwing paper out open windows, Carey said.

Two cars following the bus pulled out and passed.

Then, Carey said, buses 84 and 399 also slowed. The driver of the pickup was following the third bus, but apparently didn't react in time and his truck struck the rear of the third bus, causing a chain-reaction fender-bender.

The pickup driver, a 62-year-old retired military man on the way to a guitar lesson, wasn't hurt.

``It all happened so quickly, there wasn't much time to do anything,'' said the truck driver, Donald R. Branstetter of the 1500 block of Fawnwood Road. He was ticketed for following too closely, Carey said.

School bus drivers are encouraged to stop their vehicles if the students are being disruptive.

Nine of the injured were taken to Sentara Bayside Hospital and six were sent to Virginia Beach General Hospital.

``My first concern was the children in the bus in front of me,'' Branstetter said. ``But they were asking about me as much as I was asking about them. They were concerned about me, and asked if I had insurance.''

Branstetter said the children were well behaved, and acted like the accident was an adventure.

Carey said all the children were treated for minor injuries and released. He identified the bus drivers as:

Debra K. Dadds, 33, of the 1100 block of Old Club House Road. She was the only driver injured.

Sharon Conner, 29, of the 100 block of Holland Drive.

Ruth A. Williamson, 52, of the 3500 block of Virginius Drive.

The buses were slightly damaged. The front of the pickup was badly bent.

Branstetter missed his guitar lesson.

``Maybe my instructor will give me another chance, since I'm not going to make it,'' he said.

{KEYWORDS} ACCIDENT TRAFFIC INJURIES SCHOOL BUS

by CNB