LOWER LAKE — A Konocti Unified School District (KUSD) bus was involved in a minor fender-bender while on a field trip Wednesday. No injuries were reported in the incident.
According to KUSD Superintendent Bill MacDougall and Maintenance Supervisor Dana Moore, California Highway Patrol is currently conducting an investigation to determine who was at fault.
“It”s not the field trip we wanted and we are not charging the class the funds. The money will go back to the class,” MacDougall said. “The important thing is nobody was hurt.”
Bus No. 12 was en route to the Exploratorium in San Francisco for Lower Lake Elementary School”s third grade class fieldtrip. MacDougall said that en route to the Exploratorium the driver encountered a detour because of construction in San Francisco. He said the bus was detoured down Van Ness Boulevard where the fender-bender occurred. He said following the incident, the driver of the vehicle led the bus to its final destination.
“It was one of those classic San Francisco things,” MacDougall said. “Friendly driver; there was an accident that occurred and he helped out the bus and kids went to the Exploratorium.”
Moore said that the bus was not damaged and, to his understanding, very little damage was suffered by the vehicle. “That will all come out in the highway patrol report,” he said.
The field trip experienced another setback on its journey home when it overheated near Navato, which caused about a two hour delay.
MacDougall said the district will explore alternative means of transportation for future fieldtrips. “We are looking at using charter buses for fieldtrips in the future,” he said. “It won”t interrupt our regular bus schedules and the buses are nicer.”
