Appling County, GA — March 31, 2025, five people were injured in a bus-truck accident at about 4:30 p.m. on State Highway 121.

Authorities said an Appling County school bus was crossing the highway on D.M. Tillman Road when it was hit by a semi-truck. The impact knocked the bus into a ditch.

There were three children on the bus at the time of the crash, according to authorities. They were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, along with the bus driver and the truck driver.

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

Commentary

When a school bus gets knocked off the road by a semi-truck, the legal questions start stacking up fast. At the top of that list is the one that will likely determine who’s at fault: Who had the right of way at the intersection, and did either driver fail to yield?

From the initial reports, it appears the school bus was crossing State Highway 121 from D.M. Tillman Road when the collision occurred. That suggests the bus was entering or crossing a more heavily trafficked road, which often requires yielding to vehicles already traveling on the highway. But before making any assumptions, it’s important to understand the layout of that intersection, including signage, sight lines and traffic control devices.

If the bus pulled out into the path of the semi, we need to ask: Was the bus driver rushing? Were there visibility issues? Did the driver misjudge the speed of the oncoming truck? And if the truck struck the bus, we also have to ask: Was the truck driver speeding or distracted? Was there enough time and distance to react and avoid the crash?

This is exactly the kind of scenario where both vehicles may share responsibility, something that only becomes clear after a thorough review of the evidence. Investigators should be pulling the semi-truck’s engine control module data to see its speed and braking behavior leading up to the crash. Likewise, any external or onboard video, especially from the bus, could provide a clear timeline. Cell phone records, driver logs and post-crash interviews will also be crucial to determine whether either driver was distracted or fatigued.

It’s worth emphasizing that when school buses are involved, the legal stakes are especially high. Bus drivers are trusted with protecting children on the road, and they receive special training to operate with extra caution. That said, commercial truck drivers are also held to a higher legal standard than regular motorists, particularly when they’re driving on highways where the consequences of a mistake can be catastrophic.

In this case, thankfully, no one suffered life-threatening injuries. But it’s not lost on me that a few seconds’ difference in timing or positioning could have made this crash far worse. That’s why this investigation shouldn’t stop at the crash scene. It needs to dig deeper into the decisions both drivers made in the moments before the impact, and whether their employers did everything they should have to make sure both vehicles were operated safely. That’s the only way to figure out who’s truly responsible.