Plow truck collides with school bus

TRAPPER CREEK -- A state Department of Transportation plow truck collided with an oncoming school bus on a curvy section of Petersville Road last Wednesday morning. It was a slow-speed accident, and none of the eight students on board were seriously injured, according to a press release from Alaska State Troopers who responded to the crash. Mat-Su Borough emergency services workers manning the Talkeetna ambulance were dispatched to the scene, at about 8:26 a.m.

The driver of the plow truck, John Sweeney, 52, of Trapper Creek was uninjured. School bus driver Ralph Wing, 64, also of Trapper Creek, suffered minor trauma including a gash to his head and possible broken ribs, according to his supervisor Terry Bunker, of Bunker and Bunker, the transportation contractor for the Mat-Su School District that serves the area. Wing went to a local medical clinic in a private vehicle, according to troopers.

"He's off work. He is suffering from bumps and bruises," Bunker said. Wing's left knee also was swollen and his head wound required stitches, according to Bunker.

"It was not a high-speed collision, and I'm extremely thankful that there were no really serious injuries," Bunker said.

According to troopers, medical personnel who responded to the scene examined each of the students at the scene and none of them required immediate medical treatment.

Bunker's Willow-based company operates 19 busses and covers 13 routes for the district. He said everyone in the company was relieved upon hearing that the accident was relatively minor. The company and the community of Willow had already suffered an unexpected shock when two of Bunker's drivers, Frederick and Alvera Alley, died in a private vehicle crash on the Parks Highway during the Christmas school break.

"That hit the whole operation pretty hard. They've been with us nearly 20 years," Bunker said.

DOT officials said the plow truck crossed the centerline after its front plow bit into some ice and pulled the truck to the left. Both vehicles were moving less than 25 miles per hour on a curvy section of Petersville Road, according to Chris Kepler, DOT maintenance operations chief, who visited the site after the accident. DOT crews were taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather to scrape the last patches of ice from pavement that hadn't been snowed on in some time.

"[Sweeney] had his nose plow down and his belly blade down," Kepler said. "Just as he came to the bus the nose plow grabbed into some ice and pulled the truck over."

The school bus -- a 2001, Chevrolet/Thomas -- has extensive damage to its front end. The plow truck is fine, but its nose plow was totaled.

"The whole thing was just a freak accident, but our truck did the damage," Kepler said.

None of the agencies involved gave any information on whether any of the eight students sought medical attention later in the day. DOT spokesman Murph O'Brien said that the department's insurance company, Northern Adjusters, was contacted and went to work contacting parents that same day.

"They went to work immediately -- I talked to [the Northern Adjusters] representative and he said that he personally contacted by phone a parent of each of the children, the bus driver and the bus company," O'Brien said. DOT officials also reported the accident to the state's division of risk management, according to O'Brien.