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Road previously pegged for being unsafe leads to second school bus vs. semi truck crash in as many years

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A school bus full of children collided with a semi truck in Massachusetts on Tuesday, causing community-wide concern over an unsafe roadway. 

The accident happened on Tuesday, March 23rd at around 8 a.m. in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. 

According to NBC Boston, the bus was traveling along Route 20 near 1 Avalon Way when it collided with a semi truck, damaging the front end of the bus and “tossing” the children. 

Seven children and the bus driver were transported to a nearby hospital for the evaluation of minor injuries. Luckily, they are all expected to be okay. The truck driver was not hurt in the incident, and remained cooperative on scene. 

The exact reason for the crash is still under investigation, and no citations have been issued, but locals say that this roadway has been a safety issue for school busses in the past. 

“I can’t even begin to tell you how concerning it is because it’s not the first time it’s happened and that’s what most concerning to me,” said  Al-Hamra Academy Principal Noor Ali. “It’s really unfortunate nothing’s been done about it,” she said to Boston News 7.

“We’ve asked several times that something be done on Route 20 to address this and unfortunately nothing has happened,” said Ali. “I’ve asked for a traffic signal, I’ve been told I can’t get one because it’s too close to South Street.”

In fact, one of the students was involved in a similar crash while riding in a school van with their classmates on the same stretch of road just two years ago. 

“It was frightening, it was devastating, I just remembered what happened before,” said Abdel-Rehim, mother of the child. “And now I’m going through the whole thing all over again.”

“I would love if they really take an action this time because, what are we waiting for? Like, should we have more kids in accidents or other people dying?”

Whether or not the city takes action, the emotional damage to the students has already been done. 

“You know how hard it is to call a parent and say, ‘Your child is in an accident and they’re at the hospital?’ It’s terrifying!” Ali said. “And then going and seeing those kids, they all looked traumatized. They were tossed over in a bus…We can’t take away the trauma of it.”

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