Semi-Truck Hits School Bus, Thankfully Driver’s Quick Thinking Saved Lives of 30 Students

Dustin Anders of Burleson, Texas plays multiple roles every day. He is a husband, a father, the superintendent of Loraine Independent School District, and an occasional school bus driver. And now, he’s adding one more role to his life, a hero.

He does not usually drive the school bus but their lack of drivers lately has made this role a necessity. Anders said, “We’re in a [driver] shortage and we’re going to do what we can for our kiddos. This is my fourth year here. You do what you can do to get these kids taken care of.”

However, on October 27th, Anders never knew that this regular day of driving the school bus would turn out to be one of his most memorable ones.

He was driving about 30 students westbound on Interstate 20 when the bus started to act up. He shared, “So I generally drive that afternoon route for those kiddos. It was a normal afternoon until the bus broke down.”

And as it lost power, Anders was able to safely pull it over to the side of the road. However, the bus was not completely off the road. He knew that this isn’t safe and sensed the danger. He knew right away he needed to get the students off the bus and away from any possible danger. Anders decided to escort all the students off the bus and brought them over to a safer spot nearby.

Anders said, “It was just instinct. Getting far away from the bus as possible and we’ll just sit in the grass and wait for somebody… It was a normal afternoon until the bus broke down… My job is to take care of kiddos. I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of them.”

He can’t keep all these kids for long so as they are on waiting, he made some calls. Parents started arriving to pick up their children. Then about five minutes after all of them have exited the bus while some kids were being picked up, the most bone-chilling moment happened.

An 18-wheeler semi-truck traveling along I-20 was unable to avoid the partially pulled-over school bus and struck it from behind!

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

Everyone knew that day could have not have ended well if Anders didn’t think about gathering all the students off the bus. His instincts had truly served him well. Thanks to his quick thinking, none of them was injured. Thankfully, the driver of the semi-truck was uninjured, too.

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

People have been calling Anders a hero. parents were so glad that he made sure all the 30 students were safely off the bus before the accident happened. But in true hero fashion, Anders sees his actions as merely a part of the job and nothing out of the ordinary.

This is just a reminder for every motorist that when in case your car breaks down on a busy highway, to ensure that you take it to the safest side possible. Get out of the car and wait for help to come. This is exactly what Dustin Anders did and it saved him and 30 students.