A 63-year old school bus driver is dead following a single vehicle crash just north of London on Tuesday morning.
Middlesex OPP responded to a call at 9:18 reporting a school bus tipped over on its side on 12 Mile Road, between Highbury Ave. and Adelaide St.
OPP constable Liz Melvin was one of the first officers on the scene. She explains that the bus was travelling westbound when it hit the soft shoulder on the north side of the road, corrected, and went across the roadway. It then struck a tree and rolled onto its side.
The female driver, who’s name hasn’t been released pending notification of next of kin, was pinned underneath the bus.
A construction crew working nearby was the first on the scene, and called 9-1-1.
The Bryanston Fire Department was on location shortly afterwards, and confirmed there were no children on the bus.
Arva Fire Department was called in to provide heavy rescue assistance.
Arva’s Fire Chief Randy Wilson says air bags were used to lift the bus up and get the driver through the doors of the bus.
“I work for a school bus company, and the first thing you wonder is who the driver is, and who’s on the bus,” says Wilson.
“It’s frightening.”
The coroner pronounced the driver deceased at the scene, and the body was removed around 11:45 a.m.
Although the reasons for the crash are unknown at this time, Melvin says the early morning fog, or the fact that the driver was on a gravel road could have contributed.
School bus fatalities are few and far between in Ontario; the last one occurred in 2013.
12 Mile Road was closed for several hours between Highbury Ave. and Adelaide St. following the crash. The road re-opened just past 1:30 p.m.