'Thank God it stopped': N.S. bus driver recognized for averting potential tragedy

Nova Scotia school bus driver Terrie Brown has been recognized for quick actions last week near Bedford, N.S., that may have averted a tragedy. His employer presented him with a $500 cheque and a community hero award on Friday.

Terrie Brown says he's no hero and was just doing his job

Anjuli Patil · CBC · Posted: May 24, 2024 3:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: May 24

Bus driver recounts moments leading up to overpass crash near Bedford

6 months ago

1:35

Terrie Brown was driving 23 Rocky Lake Junior High students in his bus when a tractor-trailer crashed through an overpass and landed in the path of his bus. He managed to stop before the two vehicles could collide. On Friday, he was given a community hero award by his employer.

Terrie Brown had just entered Highway 102 near Bedford, N.S., last week and was getting close to the speed limit when he noticed a tractor-trailer crash through the guardrail above on Highway 101.

Brown, who has been a bus driver for nine years, had just left Rocky Lake Junior High with 23 students. He managed to stop the bus in time, dodging what could have been a tragedy.

"I was hard on the brakes trying to get the bus stopped and thank God it stopped," Brown told reporters on Friday.

"I mean, I didn't have any alternatives. It was either go to the concrete median and try to stop the bus that way or to the ditch. I chose to stay on a straight line with the brakes hard."

On Friday, Brown was recognized for that quick action. He was presented with a cheque for $500 and a community hero award by Southland, the school bus company and his employer.

Cars lined up on a highway near a tractor trailer that fell from an overpass. — A photo from the Bedford Talk Facebook group shows where the tractor-trailer fell from the overpass onto Highway 102 on May 16. Nova Scotia RCMP say there were no reports of injuries. (Talk Bedford/Facebook)

"With your quick reaction time, you were able to get safely home to Joanne [Brown's wife], and those 23 students were able to get safely home to their parents and their guardians," Coady MacNeil, operations manager of Southland, said during the presentation.

"When you saw what was happening in front of you, you made several split-second decisions and were able to go from 100 km/h to zero in six seconds over a distance of 100 metres in a 14-ton school bus, and also had the wherewithal to keep the wheels straight [so the bus wouldn't tip]."

Recalling the crash, Brown said the first thing he did was ask if everyone on the bus was OK. Police told CBC News last week that no one was injured on the bus or truck.

Brown said the students all started looking out the front window once the bus came to a stop.

View from the back of a school bus. A driver sits next to a student. Outside the window is debris from a crash. — The tractor-trailer could be seen through Terrie Brown's windshield in the immediate aftermath of the bus crash. Matthew Baird's stepsons were on the bus and captured this moment in the aftermath. CBC News has blurred the face of the student next to Brown to protect their privacy. (Submitted by Matthew Baird)

View of a vehicular crash from a bus winder. — A student took this picture from inside Brown's bus. (Submitted by Matthew Baird)

"They were in shock," he said. "They didn't know what was going on.... By that time, the truck was probably still bouncing around a little bit and the motor, that was still steaming and all that. So they knew right away what happened, that a truck had come down in front of me and I had to stop, and stop immediately."

He said he felt anxious the first day back on the job. He said he enjoys his job and never expected to be recognized for what he did.

He said it will take time to feel back to normal again because "it was quite an ordeal."

"Everybody's calling me a hero," he said. "I don't feel like a hero. I just feel like I've done my job the best I could do it."

Two men stand in front of a yellow school bus. — Coady MacNeil, the operations manager of Southland, presented Brown with a cheque and a community hero award on Friday. (Gareth Hampshire/CBC)

David Reed, the principal of Rocky Lake Junior High, said Brown has made the community proud.

"I would say this is the most extraordinary thing I've seen a bus driver do and we're very fortunate that Mr. Brown acted so quickly and in such a heroic manner," Reed said. "It would have been a very tragic event that would have had a huge impact on Rocky Lake and the school community."

Reed said the incident is a reminder to students to be respectful to bus drivers.

"We need to get home safely and if the bus drivers are focused on the road, then they can make the necessary actions and the necessary stops to keep them safe. And from what I hear, since then, it's been exceptional on the way home."