Chain Reaction—

School Bus Collides With Line Of Traffic On Berkshire Road

By Andrew Gorosko

While transporting 36 Newtown High School students home from school on the afternoon of Friday, January 30, a large school bus was involved in a four-vehicle chain-reaction collision on a hazardous curve on eastbound Berkshire Road (Route 34), near its intersection with Pole Bridge Road.

There were no injuries in the accident, which involved School Bus #3, police report. The students on the bus were in Grades 9 through 12.

Following reports of the collision, town police, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company members, and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps staffers responded to the accident scene. After the collision, the four vehicles involved in the crash pulled into the parking lot of the nearby Misty Vale Deli & General Store, where police investigated the incident.

Police provided an account of what occurred on Berkshire Road.

Eastbound motorist Eric Ralston, Jr, 17, of 61 Capitol Drive, who was driving a 2001 Dodge Neon sedan, stopped on Berkshire Road and was waiting to make a left turn into the deli’s parking lot, police said.

Eastbound motorist Shannon Gailloux, 22, of Hamden, who was driving a 2001 Lexus RX-300 sport-utility vehicle, then stopped behind the Dodge, police said.

 Eastbound motorist Katherine Cochrane, 16, of 17 Kelly Court, who was driving a 2003 Ford Escape sport-utility vehicle, then stopped behind the Lexus, police said.

 In that area, Berkshire Road is relatively narrow and does not provide sufficient space for motorists to pass one another on the right.

Eastbound school bus driver Jeffrey Kayfus, 37, of 27 Botsford Hill Road then came around a corner behind the stopped line of vehicles and crashed into the rear end of the Ford, according to police.

That impact pushed the Ford into the rear end of the Lexus. That crash pushed the Lexus into the rear end of the Dodge, police said.

The bus’s collision with the rear end of the Ford caused a body panel on the bus to crack and bend back toward its right front tire.

Later, in the deli’s parking lot, town workers placed some straps around the damaged body section on the bus, and using a town truck, pulled the damaged body section away from the tire, allowing the bus’s wheel to spin freely.

Tony DiLonardo, the school system’s transportation director, went to the accident scene. Mr DiLonardo later said that the bus involved in the accident was able to continue on its afternoon route and drop off its student passengers after school.

After investigating, police issued Kayfus, the bus driver, a written warning stating that he had failed to drive a reasonable distance apart.