2nd Laidlaw Bus Driver Is Arrested : Transportation: Authorities say three people are hurt in San Diego when the school bus rear-ends a pickup after racing another bus. The driver is charged with driving under the influence.

A San Diego school bus driver for Laidlaw Transit--which employed a school bus driver arrested last month in Encino on charges of being drunk on the job--was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving after his bus allegedly raced with another and then crashed into a pickup truck.

Three people--a high school student aboard the Laidlaw bus and two passengers in the pickup truck--were injured in the collision. Witnesses said the crash occurred after the bus, which was carrying 12 students, raced with another down Balboa Avenue, said California Highway Patrol officers.

Laidlaw driver Joseph Bolden, 41, of San Diego, who was not injured in the crash, told authorities that he had one beer several hours before the crash, which occurred at 2:30 p.m., said CHP Officer Carlos Gutierrez.

He was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol and was released from San Diego County Jail on his own recognizance, a jail spokeswoman said.

Results of a blood-alcohol test were not yet available, but Bolden had no other violations on his school bus driver’s certificate, Gutierrez said.

On Jan. 16, another Laidlaw driver, Harold Keith Lone, was arrested at Lanai Street Elementary School in Encino after a motorist reported seeing Lone’s bus weaving across three lanes of the Hollywood Freeway at speeds up to 70 m.p.h.

A breath test showed that Lone had a blood-alcohol level of .27%--more than three times the new legal limit of .08%.

Lone had a long criminal history and a driving record that included at least four drunk driving convictions, but used an alias to obtain a license and the driving job.

Last week officials of Laidlaw, the nation’s largest school bus company, announced that they will conduct closer background checks on job applicants to prevent similar ruses.

Laidlaw is a U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian company and operates about 20,000 routes in 16 states. Company officials in San Diego could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Gutierrez estimated that the bus involved in Friday’s accident was traveling no more than 40 m.p.h. in a stretch where the legal speed limit is 35 m.p.h.

The driver of the other bus has not been found, and it was not clear what company he worked for, Gutierrez said.

The CHP provided the following account of the accident: Bolden’s bus, a 12-passenger model, was heading west on Balboa Avenue, toward Mission Bay Drive, taking the Clairemont High School students home to the Pacific Beach area. His bus was in the center lane, while the bus with which it was allegedly racing was in the right lane. That bus eventually entered the southbound lanes of Intersate 5.

Bolden apparently could not stop his bus in time to avoid rear-ending the pickup, which was stopped at a traffic light. The pickup, in turn, crashed into the rear of a sedan in front of it.

The three injured people were treated at Mission Bay Hospital and released. The student suffered a broken collarbone.