Bus driver Tina Wilson recalls the moments leading up to her being in a hospital bed far from home.”I went to pick up the team at the University of South Carolina. It’s not even a team – it was a fraternity. Once they got food and whatever, they got back on the bus, and we all were driving,” Wilson said.In just minutes, tragedy struck. Fifty-six students were on board when one of the tires blew out on Interstate 10 in Southern Mississippi.When the tire blew, Wilson remembered what she learned during her training. “Steer out of it; do not touch the brakes,” said Wilson. She stood up to hold onto the wheel to keep the bus from flipping, which sent her flying through the windshield.Good Samaritans rushed to see if she was alive. “She thought I was decapitated and dead, and her husband rolled by slowly. He looked in the side view and said, ‘Mary, she’s alive … her legs are moving,'” said Wilson. Nine students were taken to a local hospital, while the bus driver and another student were airlifted from the scene in critical condition.The crash left Wilson with some of the worst injuries, but considering what could have been – she tells me she’ll take it.Wilson went on to say, “I have a lot of road rash. It was a traumatic injury, and that’s why I’m in the burn unit. I have all down the left side of my back, my left arm, I have on my breast and my right, to which was really just scraped on the ground. Like, it’s excruciating.”Counting her blessings not once but twice and grateful to live to tell her testimony.”I can walk away and be thankful that I’ve never had a casualty on my watch,” said Wilson. Wilson’s recovery is still ongoing.
Bus driver Tina Wilson recalls the moments leading up to her being in a hospital bed far from home.
“I went to pick up the team at the University of South Carolina. It’s not even a team – it was a fraternity. Once they got food and whatever, they got back on the bus, and we all were driving,” Wilson said.
In just minutes, tragedy struck. Fifty-six students were on board when one of the tires blew out on Interstate 10 in Southern Mississippi.
When the tire blew, Wilson remembered what she learned during her training.
“Steer out of it; do not touch the brakes,” said Wilson.
She stood up to hold onto the wheel to keep the bus from flipping, which sent her flying through the windshield.
Good Samaritans rushed to see if she was alive.
“She thought I was decapitated and dead, and her husband rolled by slowly. He looked in the side view and said, ‘Mary, she’s alive … her legs are moving,'” said Wilson.
Nine students were taken to a local hospital, while the bus driver and another student were airlifted from the scene in critical condition.
The crash left Wilson with some of the worst injuries, but considering what could have been – she tells me she’ll take it.
Wilson went on to say, “I have a lot of road rash. It was a traumatic injury, and that’s why I’m in the burn unit. I have all down the left side of my back, my left arm, I have on my breast and my right, to which was really just scraped on the ground. Like, it’s excruciating.”
Counting her blessings not once but twice and grateful to live to tell her testimony.
“I can walk away and be thankful that I’ve never had a casualty on my watch,” said Wilson.
Wilson’s recovery is still ongoing.
