Sylvan Lake RCMP have charged the driver of a pickup truck following a two-vehicle collision involving a school bus Thursday morning.

RCMP responded to the collision that happened just after 8 a.m. on Hwy 766, south of Eckville.

Mounties say the school bus, which had several students on board from Wolf Creek Public Schools, was rear-ended by the truck.

Police say no injuries were reported to the drivers or students.

Kate Staples and her husband Phil were getting their six-year-old daughter ready to board the bus seconds before the crash occurred.

“We just looked up from hugging our girls goodbye, and a truck slammed full speed into the back of the school bus,” she recalls. “It hadn’t even touched the brakes.”

After the crash, Staples sheltered the kids inside, while Phil and another dad nearby sprang into action to help.

Unfortunately, Staples adds it wasn’t the first near-miss the family has witnessed. Staples recounts “so many” incidents of vehicles — in both directions — passing a stopped school bus with lights on.

“We wait until all vehicles are stopped before we let the girls board.” she says. “This time it really demonstrated why.”

Kate Staples speaking to what her family witnessed, Sept. 25.

The scene of a collision involving a pickup truck and a school bus south of Eckville, Sept. 25. (Kate Staples)

As a result, the driver of the pickup truck was charged with failing to stop for a school bus with flashing lights and for driving a motor vehicle without subsisting registration.

In a statement from Wolf Creek Public Schools, communications coordinator Vince Burke, confirmed one of their school buses was involved in the traffic incident in the Eckville area.

“There were students on board at the time, and we are very thankful to confirm that no students or the bus driver were injured,” he said in the statement. “Parents of all students on board were notified promptly, and the students were safely transported to school by another bus following the incident.”

Staples emphasizes that this is a bigger issue than any one driver, crediting the driver of the pickup for immediately leaping out of the vehicle to make sure everyone was OK.

“This is a frequent occurrence [where] we see people not stopping for a bus,” she says. “This isn’t about this one person who was driving, this is about people not paying attention to busses.”

Staples calls for increased patrolling and enforcement around stopped school busses in a manner where drivers will be “scared” to pass a stopped school bus.

Kate Staples on her hope to see increased traffic enforcement around school busses.