Driver said fog, sun obscured school bus
By Matt Shaw
Published in News on April 7, 2005 1:46 PM
The driver of a car that hit a school bus Wednesday morning reportedly never saw it, due to a foggy windshield.
Amanda Sue Thigpen, 18, of Nahunta Road, told the N.C. Highway Patrol that she was trying to clear her windshield when the 1988 Chevrolet Celebrity rear-ended the bus headed to Northwest Elementary School. She also said the rising sun added to her inability to see properly.
"She didn't see it, which explains why she wasn't braking at all," Trooper B.W. Overton said.
Heavy fog covered much of Wayne County early Wednesday.
Miss Thigpen was charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to wear a seat belt.
She injured her leg. Her sister, Laura Thigpen, 16, had cuts to her face. Both were taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released.
The accident happened at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday on Nahunta Road, only a short distance from the Thigpens' house. They also were en route to school.
There were 28 students on the bus. Neither they nor the bus driver were hurt. The school sent another bus to the scene to pick up the children and take them to class.