GILBERT, S.C. — Families in Gilbert are feeling grateful after a school bus collision sent 17 students to the hospital. The state's Department of Education says bus safety standards are to thank.
Terrifying moments for Nichole Blizzard as she arrived on the scene of a bus crash Thursday afternoon.
"Seeing that bus halfway tilted over, that whole side just destroyed, there were people everywhere, and there were kids laying on the side of the road. They were being put on stretchers, here was just debris everywhere."
Her two sons, 13-year-old Kieran and 12-year-old Raven, are students at gilbert middle school. They were riding the bus to their grandparents house when it collided with a tanker truck on pond branch road throwing students into Raven's seat.
"He broke a friend's fall in the initial impact and then the seat came right up off the floor and hit both of them."
In all, 17 students were hospitalized including her sons- and all were discharged from the hospital later that night, suffering no serious injuries, something blizzard considers a miracle.
"Especially seeing the condition of the bus and just seeing that horrifying video of it actually happening is kind of mind boggling to me that it wasn't worse."
That's by design according to Laura Bayne, with the South Carolina Department of Education. She says bus safety regulations are decided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who set fourth new standards in 2009.
"They revised those standards to increase the seating, height requirement, the cushion depth requirement, and really just make the bus more sound structurally."
She tells News19, six years ago, the state's school bus fleet had about 40% of their buses that met the new requirements. Now, she says that number is 96% and growing.
"We have actually ordered more busses to come within the next year or two that'll be 100% of the busses that meet safety standard that went into effect in 2010."
Blizzard says her Friday was spent taking care of her boys, and is feeling happy to have them home.
"I'm just so grateful, I just keep picturing what could've been."
We’re being the bus driver has been suspended by the district pending the outcome of the investigation.