Tacoma, WA — April 15, 2025, one person was injured in a bus accident at about 7:55 a.m. in the 4200 block of Waller Road East.

Authorities said a sedan and a Chief Leschi Schools bus were involved in a crash near East 41st Street.

The driver of the sedan, who had to be extricated from the vehicle, was hospitalized in critical condition, according to authorities. The driver's name has not been made public at this time.

No one on the school bus was injured in the crash, authorities said.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Pierce County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a collision occurs between a school bus and a passenger vehicle the legal focus immediately turns to right-of-way, vehicle operation, and situational awareness. According to reports, a sedan and a school bus collided on Waller Road East in Tacoma, leaving the sedan’s driver critically injured and requiring extrication from the wreckage. Thankfully, no one on the school bus was hurt.

Crashes involving school buses demand a high level of scrutiny, not only because buses carry children, but because the vehicles themselves are large, slow to maneuver and often operating in mixed-traffic environments at the start of the school day. Drivers of school buses are held to one of the highest professional standards, and for good reason. Their routes take them through neighborhoods, tight turns and congested intersections, places where other motorists may not always be expecting a large vehicle to appear or stop suddenly.

At this point, it's unclear which vehicle was at fault, but the key legal question is whether either driver failed to yield or misjudged a traffic movement. Was the sedan trying to turn across the path of the bus? Did the bus make a wide turn or sudden maneuver? Did either driver attempt to beat a light or misinterpret a gap in traffic? These questions will determine whether this was a momentary lapse or a serious breach of the duty of care all drivers owe to one another, especially when operating near school traffic.

Because the sedan driver had to be extricated, investigators will also want to evaluate the speed and angle of impact. Did either driver fail to slow down in time? Was the crash avoidable with better visibility or more cautious driving? Those answers will likely come from crash scene measurements, vehicle damage assessments and any nearby surveillance footage.

Even when no students are injured, a crash involving a school bus sends a clear signal: someone either wasn't paying attention or didn't give the situation the care it required. And when the result is a critically injured motorist, it's not enough to say it was an unfortunate event. The goal of the investigation must be to uncover exactly what led to this collision, and whether the harm it caused could have been avoided through better decision-making on the part of either driver. Because in school zones and morning traffic, the room for error is always small, and the consequences, as we see here, can be severe.