RUMFORD – A bizarre accident involving an empty SAD 43 school bus and a tractor-trailer loaded with wood chips early Thursday morning on Route 2 damaged both vehicles but resulted in no injuries.
At 6:30 a.m., SAD 43 bus driver Bill O’Donnell, 57, of Rumford headed west toward Route 232 to begin his morning run of picking up students, said Tim Gallant on Thursday afternoon.
Gallant, the district’s director of buildings, grounds and transportation, said O’Donnell has been driving school buses for 15 years and is the district’s bus drivers’ education instructor.
“He was close to McDonald’s (restaurant) when a NewPage chip truck lost two wheels and a brake drum. Bill said he looked up and saw a tire coming at him, traveling between 40 and 50 mph,” Gallant said.
Rumford Patrolman David Bean said early Thursday evening that the 2004 Volvo 18-wheeler owned by Midwest Price LLC of West Paris was driven by Daniel Trenoweth, 64, of Mexico.
“Two rear truck tires, a wheel and brake drum came off and one (tire) continued rolling and bouncing down the road and struck the front of the bus,” Bean said.
O’Donnell, Gallant said, did the right thing and let off the accelerator and took the impact head on with the 2004 International bus.
The tire shoved the front bumper back 10 inches into the radiator, causing an estimated $6,000 to $7,000 damage, Gallant said.
“He knew not to hit the brakes, because that would have caused all the children in the bus – if there had been any in there – to move forward rapidly,” he said.
Police, bystanders and Trenoweth searched in vain for the other tire, wheel and brake drum, which may have broken off farther up the road, Bean said.
Reading investigating Patrolman Corey Jacques’ report, Bean said damage to the chip truck was estimated at $1,000. Both the bus and truck were removed from the scene by M/T Pockets of Dixfield.
“It didn’t appear that the frame was twisted on the bus, so we will do all the repairs ourselves,” Gallant said.
After another bus was driven to him, O’Donnell completed his route, then finished working that day in his other job, a custodian at Rumford Elementary School, Gallant added.
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