Bus crash girl, 6, out of hospital

Anaru Smith (left) and his sister Sasha recover in hospital after the collision on Monday which left more than 30 passengers injured. Photo / Alan Gibson

A 6-year-old girl seriously injured in the Bay of Plenty bus school crash has been discharged from Rotorua Hospital this morning.

However, an 8-year-old girl remains in a critical but stable condition in intensive care at Auckland's Starship Hospital.

The children were among 35 youngsters injured after an unladen logging truck ploughed into the back of a school bus that was pulling over on the side of a road in rural Ruatoki, south of Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty on Monday.

A 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl remain in Whakatane Hospital, while a 41-year-old man, two 12-year-old boys, and a 10-year-old girl remain in Tauranga Hospital, the Bay of Plenty District Health Board District Health Board says.

Spokeswoman Diana Marriott said all are in comfortable and stable conditions.
The rest of the injured children have been discharged.

Police investigating the cause of the crash said it could take up to a month to determine what happened.

The crash has sparked calls for greater policing of logging trucks.

Taneatua School principal Rob Shaw said the number of logging trucks in the area had grown over the last three years and promises had been made to keep the speeds down.

Mr Shaw said up to eight or nine big trucks passed the school on State Highway 2 between 3pm and 3.15pm every day.

"They all know that school buses are on the road between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon in our area, and I think they just have to be alert to that.''

Log Transport Safety Council chair Warwick Wilshier said operators with trucks passing Taneatua School had again been reminded to observe the speed limit.

"To the best of my knowledge no concerns about vehicle speeds have been raised with local operators, but the Log Transport Safety Council would be more than happy to meet with Mr Shaw to discuss his concerns,'' he said.

Mr Wilshier said the number of trucks using the route had "dropped considerably'' as local logging was cut back recently.

Truckers were professionals who were expected to comply with road rules, he said.

"There's nothing to be gained by travelling fast in our industry. We have a day's work to get done and by speeding it's not going to make an extra load a day. So no, there's definitely not that pressure at all.''

The law requires vehicles passing stationary school buses to slow to 20km/h.

Stu McNabb, operations manager for Transbay Coaches, which operated the crashed bus, said too many people were speeding past school buses.

"I see people passing stationery buses at high speed, I grit my teeth very time because for sure something is going to happen,'' he told Radio New Zealand.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce yesterday said the accident was tragic, but would not commit to changes such as compulsory safety belts on school buses.

He said it was too early to comment on whether logging trucks should be banned from school bus routes between 3pm and 4pm on school days.