Seneca, SC : 18-wheeler Driver charged in Seneca CAT bus collision on U.S. 123 near Carson Road on Wednesday morning, June 17, 2015

An 18-wheeler driver has been charged after a Wednesday morning collision that sent eight Clemson Area Transit riders to the hospital with minor injuries.

Jeremy Kane Godwin, 39, of Westminster, was charged with driving too fast for conditions after the 2001 Freightliner tractor-trailer he was driving collided with the rear of a Seneca CAT bus at about 10:35 a.m. on U.S. 123 near the intersection with Carson Road, according to Lance Cpl. Gary Miller of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The electric-powered bus, driven by 63-year-old Yvonne Haynes Bowen, of Seneca, was in the Clemson-bound lane and stopped for a passenger when the collision took place, according to Miller.

Eight of the 12 passengers on the bus were taken to the Oconee Medical Campus of the Greenville Hospital System with minor injuries, mainly related to whiplash, according to responders at the scene.

Neither Godwin nor Bowen were among the injured.

Onlookers at the scene said Godwin exited the cab of his truck quickly after the impact and rushed toward the bus.

Seneca’s City Administrator Greg Dietterick said the city’s electric-powered bus was running the express route from Seneca to Clemson when the collision took place.

The bus suffered some damage, Dietterick said, but was believed to be still driveable.

The bus is one of four - three in regular operation with one in reserve - that Seneca runs as its public transportation system.

The operation of the buses is contracted through the Clemson Area Transit system. Last year the all-electric buses replaced Seneca’s diesel-powered fleet to make it the first entirely electric public transportation system in the United States.

Source :
Driver charged in Seneca CAT bus collision