Semi-Truck Hits Broken-Down School Bus, Driver’s Quick Thinking Likely Saved All 30 Students

Dustin Anders plays a lot of roles in his life each day. He is a husband and father from Burleson, Texas. He is also the superintendent of the Loraine Independent School District and an occasional school bus driver. And now, he can add one more role to his list – a hero!

There are certain circumstances when he has to bring and take kids to school by driving the school bus and he really doesn’t mind doing that. He said, We’re in a [driver] shortage and we’re going to do what we can for our kiddos.” And one day, something happened where his quick decision-making saved the lives of the 30 students on the bus. “This is my fourth year here. You do what you can do to get these kids taken care of,” Anders said.

It was a regular school day on October 27th and like usual, Anders was driving about 30 students westbound on Interstate 20. The bus started to act up. Anders shared, “So I generally drive that afternoon route for those kiddos. It was a normal afternoon until the bus broke down.”

The bus eventually lost power but he was able to pull it over to the side of the road. However, the bus was not completely out of the road though. He knew that this is not a safe spot for them. Sensing the danger, Anders quickly guided all students off the bus and to a safer area nearby.

Anders continued, “It was just instinct. Getting far away from the bus as possible and we’ll just sit in the grass and wait for somebody.”

Once the kids were all safely off the bus, he made some calls. It didn’t take long for parents and guardians to start arriving to pick up their children. But just about five minutes after they’d exited the bus and as some of the students were being picked up, something happened that made their hearts beat faster.

An 18-wheeler passed too close to the stranded school bus and rear-ended it!

Anders said, “Right at the end of that time frame, the 18-wheeler in my opinion didn’t even slow down and just hit it.”

Thankfully, Anders’ was able to get everyone off the bus before this freak accident happened. His instincts had served him well. Getting the kids off that bus was the best decision that he made that day and as a result, none of them was injured. Some kids were a bit shaken after seeing what happened to their bus, but everyone is well.

“And that’s all that matters,” Anders said.

In fact, it is a surprising miracle that the driver of the semi-truck was uninjured, too.

When this story went viral online, some have addressed Anders as a hero. But in a true hero fashion, he sees his actions as merely part of the job and nothing out of the ordinary. He said, “No, man. … My job is to take care of kiddos. I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of them.”

When kids get on that bus, their safety is in the hands of the driver. That is why it is very important that no matter what happens, everyone’s safety should be prioritized, just like what Dustin Anders did that day.