Bend, OR : Sheldon High soccer students avoid serious injury when their bus crashes with pickup on Highway 20 Thursday, Sep 3, 2015

A total of 37 student athletes from Sheldon High School escaped serious injury when their bus collided Thursday afternoon with a pickup on Highway 20 near Hoodoo Lodge, Sheldon Principal Bob Bolden said in a letter to Sheldon parents.

The driver of the 1993 Chevrolet pickup, 32-year-old Camille Nelson of Wilsonville, was pronounced dead at the scene, Oregon State Police said. Nelson was headed west when she crossed the centerline for unknown reasons and struck the eastbound bus, police said.

Members of the Sheldon boys’ varsity and junior varsity soccer team, along with their coach, assistant coach and bus driver, were on their way to a soccer game at Summit High School in Bend when the collision occurred, Bolden said.

The game was canceled. A Sisters School District bus was sent to the scene, and transported the Sheldon students to Sisters Middle School, where counselors were made available to them, state police said.

The Sheldon students were expected to return to Eugene late Thursday night.

Counseling support will also be made available to students and staff in Eugene, Bolden said. School officially begins in the Eugene School District next week, after the Labor Day weekend.

“We are thankful that no one on the bus was injured,” Principal Bolden said in his letter. “Our thoughts are with the other vehicle’s driver and the driver’s family.”

Some minor discrepancies emerged in accounts about the accident. State police said a “couple” of occupants on the school bus sustained “minor” injuries. State police also said their count of passengers on the bus totaled 43.

The crash occurred at about 2 p.m. near milepost 79, about two miles west of the Santiam Pass summit and east of the Santiam Junction with state Highway 126, near Hogg Rock.

The impact of the crash sent Nelson’s pickup into a westbound ditch, police said. Nelson was the sole occupant in the vehicle.

The roadway was wet at the time of the crash, and the cause remains under investigation, police said.

The highway was blocked in both directions for several hours by the crash and subsequent investigation. One lane reopened by 5 p.m. and the second lane reopened around 7 p.m. State police were assisted at the scene by Oregon Department of Transportation, Black Butte Police Department and Camp Sherman Fire Department.

Source:

Driver of car killed in collision with school bus; students from Eugene escape injury