Ionia County, MI — March 29, 2025, four people were injured in a bus accident at about 6:55 a.m. on Interstate 96 near Portland.

Authorities said bus carrying Grant Rapids Civic Theatre students, teachers and staff crashed into a guardrail near Kent Street. The bus reportedly continued going straight when the highway curved.

Four of the 11 high school students on the bus were injured in the crash, according to authorities.

The bus driver, who allegedly had her eyes closes for a time before the crash, has been charged with operating a vehicle while impaired, authorities said. She allegedly had THC in her system at the time of the crash.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Ionia County crash at this time.

Commentary

When a commercial driver veers off the road and slams into a guardrail, especially with a busload of students onboard, people naturally want to know: How did something like this happen? And maybe more urgently, could it have been prevented?

From reports, it appears the bus driver may have had THC in her system and allegedly had her eyes closed in the moments leading up to the crash. If that’s true, that raises immediate concerns about whether she was in any condition to be behind the wheel at all. But those reports alone don’t give us the whole picture. There’s still a lot we don’t know, and until those gaps are filled in with hard evidence, we shouldn’t assume anything.

For example, if the bus failed to follow a curve in the road and kept going straight, then we need to understand: Was the driver actively steering the vehicle at that moment, or was she incapacitated? Did the bus have any onboard safety systems that could’ve alerted her, or even taken control to prevent the crash? And were there any warning signs before this incident that might have flagged the driver as unfit to drive that day?

Let’s be clear: driving under the influence is a serious allegation. But impairment isn’t just about drugs or alcohol. It’s also about fatigue, distraction or even a medical emergency. And we can’t answer those questions without examining the driver’s cell phone records, work schedule, toxicology results and any dash cam or in-cab footage that might show what happened in the minutes before the crash.

Beyond the driver, there’s the issue of oversight. Who authorized this driver to transport students? What vetting procedures were used to ensure she was fit for the job? I've handled cases where employers overlooked major red flags during the hiring process. In one, a company put a driver on the road who’d already been fired from multiple jobs for safety issues. They gave her a 20-minute road test and called it good. That kind of shortcut decision-making can have devastating consequences; and when it does, it’s not just the driver who needs to answer for it.

Right now, there’s a narrative forming around this crash, but the real story won’t come together until someone looks at the evidence: not just what happened at the scene, but how this driver ended up behind the wheel in the first place. Accountability only means something when it’s based on facts.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s not yet clear whether the driver’s alleged impairment caused the bus to crash or if other factors played a role.
• Critical questions remain unanswered, including whether the driver was incapacitated, distracted or failed to respond to road conditions.
• Investigators will need to examine toxicology reports, dash cam footage, black box data and hiring records to determine who’s responsible.
• Legal accountability may extend beyond the driver to those who vetted and authorized her to operate the bus.
• Getting the full picture requires independent investigation, not assumptions or headlines.