Driver says insect crawling on her leg caused her to crash into school bus
Inverness, Florida - An insect distracting a driver was determined to be the cause of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) colliding with a school bus and then overturning several times, in Inverness, FL on Sept. 24, at 4:03 pm.
The SUV driver, a 33 year-old woman from Dade City, FL, was transported by Nature Coast EMS to Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness, FL with non-incapacitating injuries.
None of the 13 occupants of the school bus were injured. The occupants included the 71 year-old male driver from Homosassa, FL and his 12 passengers, which ranged in age from 8 to 28. One passenger was from Homosassa, FL, one from Hernando, FL, one from Beverly Hills, FL and nine from Inverness, FL. The school bus driver was transporting students home from the CREST (Citrus Resources for Exceptional Students in Transition) School, located at 2600 S. Panther Pride Dr. in Lecanto, FL.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash occurred on S. Pleasant Grove Rd. (Citrus County Rd. 581). The 2006 Jeep Liberty SUV was traveling north, and the 2007 Citrus County School District school bus was traveling south. Both vehicles were approaching E. Triss St. when the SUV entered the lane in which the school bus was traveling, and the front left of the SUV collided with the left side of the school bus. The SUV continued traveling in a northwestly direction and began rotating in a counterclockwise direction on the west grassy shoulder, where it overturned several times before coming to rest on its four wheels, facing south, on the west shoulder of S. Pleasant Grove Rd. The school bus came to rest in the southbound lane of S. Pleasant Grove Rd., facing south.
The driver of the SUV told the FHP trooper that she was distracted by an insect crawling on her leg, which caused her to enter into the lane of the oncoming school bus.