SAN CLEMENTE : Bus Driver Reports Being Hit by Car

A school bus driver said he was struck by a car Monday as he stood in the middle of Calle Pastadero preparing to escort two kindergartners from Ole Hanson Elementary School across the street.

John Forrest, 26, who has driven for the Capistrano Unified School District for three years, said he was “a little shaken up” after the 11:30 a.m. incident. Uninjured, he was able to return to work a few hours later.

Forrest said he was hit while conducting a “red light crossing,” a procedure in which a school bus driver pulls over in the middle of a block, turns on the bus’s flashing lights and acts as a crossing guard for children.

“I was in the middle of the street and I saw a car coming and told the kids to wait,” Forrest said. “When I saw that the car wasn’t going to stop, I tried to get between the car and kindergartners. The car struck me and I fell into the hood.”

Forrest said he got up and tried to talk to the driver, but the motorist immediately drove off, rolling over Forrest’s foot.

San Clemente police said the driver of the car, a 1985 Izuzu, and his passenger gave a different version of the accident. According to police, the driver and his passenger said they did not know what Forrest was doing in the middle of the street. They said that Forrest had jumped onto the hood of their car, Lt. Hector Rivera said.

Rivera said the driver of the car was not cited.

There were 11 students sitting in the bus at the time of the incident. District officials dispatched a second bus to the scene to handle the remainder of Forrest’s morning route.

District officials said many drivers fail to stop when they see a bus driver conducting the red light crossing.

“It is a problem and, unfortunately, it is fairly common,” said David Randall, the district’s director of transportation. “When drivers see a bus on the side of the road, they need to look for those red flashing lights. If a bus is stopped and the driver is standing in the middle of the road, the next thing that’s going to happen is that there are going to be children crossing the road.”