Capistrano Beach : 2 Drivers Hurt as Van Hits Rear of School Bus

Two drivers suffered injuries Monday morning when a van collided with the rear of a Capistrano Unified School District bus that had no one aboard but the driver, the county Sheriff’s Department reported.

Lt. Richard J. Olson, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said the collision took place at 9:05 a.m. as the school bus was halted at a red light, waiting to turn left from Coast Highway onto Doheny Park Road in the Capistrano Beach neighborhood of Dana Point.

Olson said the van was driven by Robert Baiz, 38, of San Clemente. The bus driver is Charles Davis, 63, of El Toro.

Both drivers were taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where Davis was treated for neck and back pains and released, according to Jacqueline Cerra, spokeswoman for Capistrano Unified School District.

Baiz suffered leg injuries, according to Olson, who said that no citations were immediately issued but that the accident remains under investigation.

Cerra said the bus had completed its morning delivery of students, and the driver had been headed to the school district’s bus yard off Doheny Park Road.

She said Davis has been a Capistrano Unified bus driver since September, 1988, and also worked for six years as a bus driver for the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.