Collision with Whitehall School Bus Leaves One Dead

On Monday, November 29, just before 7 AM, a Whitehall school bus collided head-on with a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country minivan after the van negotiated a sharp right-hand corner while traveling West and crossed the center line.

The accident occurred at mile marker 3 on Hwy 2, just outside Whitehall.

The bus was traveling East and headed to the start of the bus route.

Following impact, the minivan and bus came to rest in the roadway.

The 52-year-old male driver was declared dead at the scene. His 35-year-old female passenger of Belgrade went to St. James Healthcare with undetailed injuries. Neither he nor his passenger was wearing their seatbelts; names have not been released. The crash also killed a canine in the minivan.

The 29-year-old Whitehall bus driver and her 7-year-0ld son, the only passenger on the bus, were not injured but were seen at the hospital.

Traffic was stopped in both directions until about 9:30 AM, while Whitehall Fire and Ambulance services extricated the victim and cleaned up the accident scene.

Due to the accident, the bus driver’s route was not able to be completed; the school contacted students and parents on the route via Facebook and phone calls.

Also, because of the immediate lack of buses, the middle school temporarily canceled their Monday Manhattan boys basketball game before the Manhattan team committed to traveling to Whitehall.

All students on the affected route now have access to busing. For the remainder of the week, Routes 2 and 7 buses are splitting Route 6 to pick up and drop off students. By this weekend, Harlows will have a replacement bus available to the district.