Driver Injured, Preschoolers Unharmed After School Bus Slides into Guardrail

At 1:32 p.m., a school bus transporting four Pointers Run Elementary students and a bus aide was struck by a Nissan in the 7000 block of Pindell School Road in Clarksville, according to reports from Howard County police and fire officials. The children and bus aide walked away unharmed, but the bus driver was injured. The driver of the 2003 Nissan Murano—Zakia Renay Williams, 33, of Middle River—was not injured and refused treatment at the scene, said police.

The bus was traveling northbound on Pindell School Road when it was struck from behind, police reported. It slid off the road and hit a guardrail, according to Patti Caplan, spokeswoman for Howard County Public Schools. The students—all 5-year-olds enrolled in the Pointers Run half-day program—were taken to  for evaluation, and their parents were notified. The bus aide was unharmed. The bus driver, Elizabeth Mae Ganoe, 34, of Laurel, sustained minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to Howard County General Hospital.

"Williams was cited for traveling at a speed greater than reasonable," wrote Howard County Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn in a public statement. "Investigators also believe weather was a factor" in the Clarksville crash.

Despite snowy conditions that caused Anne Arundel and Baltimore County schools to close an hour early, Howard County public schools remained open the duration of the day.

At 2:30 p.m., Caplan said: "Our hope was that the salt trucks could get at least some of the roads cleared and melted a little bit before our major bus traffic gets out on the road."