Driver of pickup truck flown to hospital after crash with school bus in Hempfield Township

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The driver of a pickup truck was flown to a hospital after a crash with a school bus Friday morning in Hempfield Township, officials said.

The crash happened just after 8 a.m. in the area of Spanish Villa Drive.

Investigators said the pickup truck, which had a mattress in the bed, slammed into the back of the Hempfield Area School District bus. The truck’s windshield shattered from the impact, and the front end became wedged beneath the bus.

The driver of the truck was flown to UPMC Presbyterian, where he was listed in critical condition.

Nine students were on the bus, but none of them were hurt, officials said. The bus driver was also not hurt.

People who live in the area said the road where the crash happened is dangerous and there have been crashes there before.

“I’ve lived here for 30 years and both of my kids have been rear-ended right in the turn into this road. The speed limit is supposed to be 45, but I don’t think there’s more than 10 cars a day that do that speed,” Bill Johnston, who lives in the area, said.

PennDOT officials told Channel 11 they have not received any complaints about that specific intersection, and they don’t consider it a high-crash area.

Besides Friday’s accident, only two other rear-end crashes were reported in 2017.

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