A driver whose car was pinned underneath a special education school bus Tuesday is expected to be OK, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The crash shutdown all southbound lanes and one northbound lane of Austell Road near McDuffie Road for nearly two hours in Cobb County.
The car rear-ended the bus just before 7:10 a.m., Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said.
At the time, the bus was headed to Sanders Elementary School in Austell, Cobb schools spokeswoman Donna Lowry said.
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While the seven children and two adults on the bus were not injured, the driver of the car was trapped for about 50 minutes, officials said.
A technical rescue team with crews from east and north Cobb assisted in the rescue of the trapped driver.
“They came together and were able to lift the school bus off the car, pull the car out and then cut the person out of a car,” Cobb fire battalion chief Chris Sobieski said.
The driver, who was conscious and talking, was taken to a local hospital by ambulance, he said.
The school’s principal and assistant principal went to the scene, Lowry said. The students and the adults were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. A replacement bus was sent to the scene to carry the students and the adults to their final destination.
Sobieski said there have been more accidents this holiday season than normal.
“I hope people exercise a little more caution in the holiday season,” he said. “A lot of people want to get to their destinations safely.”
The cause of the school bus crash is still under investigation.
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