2 staff injured in 3 school bus crashes on I-215 Beltway in Las Vegas
Three school buses that were not transporting students crashed in the southwest Las Vegas Valley during Tuesday’s rainy morning commute, with one crash injuring two staff members.
All the crashes happened around 7 a.m. on the same stretch of the 215 Beltway, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka said. No students were on board any of the buses, but one bus overturned onto its side, causing the injuries.
The bus overturned on the westbound 215 Beltway, east of the South Durango Drive exit, Smaka said. The bus driver and another staff member on the bus were taken to University Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries.
Another crash happened less than 4 miles away near the highway’s westbound Decatur Boulevard exit, Smaka said. That crash involved a school bus and multiple vehicles, but no one was hospitalized, Smaka said.
The third crash also happened nearby, west of the 215 and Interstate 15 connector. The crash involved a bus and one other vehicle, and no one was injured, Smaka said.
A slow-moving front dropped steady rain into the valley on Tuesday morning, with 0.09 of an inch of rain measured in the central valley as of 10:15 a.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Pierce said. According to the Regional Flood District’s website, between 0.08 and 0.04 of an inch fell in the southwest where the crashes happened.
Smaka said while investigators have not officially determined if rain played a factor in the crashes, the valley does tend to see an increase in crashes during rainy weather.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
