BENTONVILLE — Several Bentonville school buses were involved in minor accidents as snow fell Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported.
One bus was hit from behind by another vehicle in Centerton about 6:50 a.m., said Mary Ley, district spokeswoman. There were 18 students on the bus headed to Willowbrook Elementary School and Bright Field Middle School.
The accident occurred on West Centerton Boulevard on the city’s west side, near the intersection of Western Heights Circle, Ley said. The driver of the other vehicle was an 18-year-old man, who was cited for following too closely, Ley said. Both vehicles had slight damage. Another bus was brought to the scene to pick up the students and take them to school.
By 10 a.m., Bella Vista police had received calls of accidents involving three school buses, though only one had children on board at the time. That bus slid sideways while traveling east up Kingsland Road off Bella Vista Way, Capt. Tim Cook said.
Two other buses slid off the road, one on Oldham Drive and the other at Town Center. The one at Oldham had to be towed out of a ditch, Ley said.
Through Monday, Bentonville had had nine bus accidents this school year, Ley said. The district has averaged 16 bus accidents per year over the last three school years.
The district has 124 bus drivers who run routes totaling an average of 1.4 million miles per year, including field trips, Ley said.
Tuesday’s snow began after the district’s 5:45 a.m. deadline for deciding whether to cancel school for the day.
Matt Young, principal of Cooper Elementary in Bella Vista, said days such as Tuesday always have some students out of school, but the best decision was to get students to school safely before road conditions worsened.
“The storm hit while the buses were already out,” Young said, adding it would have been dangerous to cancel school and send students home in the same bad conditions.
About 20 percent of Cooper’s students were out at the beginning of the day Tuesday, but some trickled in as the day went on, Young said.