Bus involved in accident

A bus that carried the Glacier High School boys track team to Butte on Saturday was involved in a minor accident.

The unoccupied bus rolled down a sloped street in Butte on Saturday before getting wedged at an angle between parked cars in a nearby lot.

Nobody was on the bus at the time and there were no injuries.

Kay Evans, Kalispell Public Schools transportation facilitator, said the damages were mainly cosmetic.

“There was simply typical front-end damage,” Evans said.

The bus was still operable and brought the track team back to Kalispell. Cost estimates to repair the district-owned bus have not yet been determined.

Evans said the accident was due to driver error when the driver released the brakes to move the bus to another parking space.

When another car took the parking space, the driver decided to stay put but forgot to apply the brakes before exiting the bus.

Evans said the bus driver has an excellent track record with the district, having driven roughly 140,000 miles over more than four years without any previous accidents. Evans said the driver will receive extra training.

“We all feel bad when something happens like this,” Evans said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.