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No injuries in school bus slide-off in Lockwood

Emerald Hills bus slideoff.jpg
Posted at 7:47 PM, Jan 27, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-28 10:35:14-05

A school bus slid off the road in Lockwood Friday afternoon after ice and snow caused slick conditions.

It happened on Emerald Hills Drive near Indian Ridge Road a little before 4 p.m.

The bus lost traction going up the steep hill and slid sideways into the ditch, according to Capt. Kent O'Donnell of the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office.

Seven children from Lockwood school were on the bus.

No one was injured and everyone got out safely.

"Nobody got thrown around," O'Donnell said. "Sounds like everybody was in their seat and stayed calm. A little bit of excitement for a few seconds."

First Student responded with a pickup truck, which also slid sideways and hit the bus.

"Their pickup actually slid back down the hill too and into the side of the bus," O'Donnell said. "Super slick underneath the snow. We get glare ice and apparently they were headed up the hill, and it's actually a four-wheel drive bus and has chains on and started to slide and just slid off into the ditch there and it's a pretty steep ditch."

The road is so slick, that no one was allowed to drive past the bus until the county came out with the sander.

The plan was to sand the road before a tow truck arrived.

O'Donnell said the plan is to sand down the roads so that the tow truck has some traction to get the bus out of the way.

"You see how hard the snow is coming down tonight," O'Donnell said. "I just warn everybody, be careful for rapidly changing conditions here in the next 24 hours."