The bus drove on top of this vehicle at a used-car sales yard. Photo / Sarah Ivey
James Murphy was on his way to check his work roster when a van slammed into the bus he was travelling on in Hamilton yesterday.
The 16-year-old McDonald's employee was sitting at the front of the Go Bus when a man in his 60s drove through a roundabout
and crashed into its side.
James said things seemed to "slow down" just before the collision, although the impact was so great it threw the bus driver from his seat.
"The driver fell and hit the door but he tried to hang on to the wheel.
"He did his best but he couldn't control the bus and kept hitting the door," said James.
The bus veered off course, narrowly missing a power pole before coming to a halt after mounting and crushing a car in a nearby used car yard.
"It was pretty out of it," James said. "There were people screaming and freaking out but we were pretty lucky, thanks to the driver. I think it was also lucky there were only a dozen people or so on the bus."
Not so fortunate was a 61-year-old woman who was sitting above the point of impact where the van hit the bus on the corner of Greenwood St and Killarney Rd.
She was taken to Waikato Hospital with serious chest injuries.
The elderly male van driver, who had to be prised from his vehicle by firefighters, suffered serious leg injuries.
Sergeant Philip Ruddell of the Hamilton strategic traffic unit said indications were the northbound van failed to stop at the roundabout before hitting the bus.
Mr Ruddell praised the bus driver, who he said was "entirely professional" in seeing to his passengers' well-being.
The driver, who suffered several minor cuts to his face, was recovering yesterday afternoon, said Go Bus commercial manager Craig Worth.
"Obviously we are grateful that no more people were injured.
"It could have been a lot worse but he did a sterling job."
