OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – It could have ended so much differently.
As a school bus hauling the Oil City High School varsity wrestling team crested a hill on Route 6 outside of Union City Wednesday afternoon, driver Ed Hynes, (pictured above with his wife, Patricia) saw an out-of-control tractor-trailer headed in their direction.
It could have resulted in a tragedy, not to mention it is so close to Christmas.
But, Hynes was determined not to let an inevitable accident become a disaster.
Hynes didn’t have many options and very little time to make a decision as the jack-knifed truck headed their way; however, he clearly made the correct choice as he steered the bus into a ditch off the right-hand side of the road as the truck hit the front of the bus where Ed sat.
Ed’s son Tim, a former Oil City resident who now lives in Knox, received a call around 5:00 p.m. from his mother about the accident.
He quickly called his dad, finding he was hurt, but not suffering life-threatening injuries.
While Ed suffered a broken leg, none of the wrestlers and coaches were injured.
Tim wanted to share more details about the accident and the man he has long considered a hero.
“He yelled to the wrestling team and the coaches to hold on and put the bus in the ditch to the right side of the road and positioned ‘himself’ in the front of the bus toward the semi,” Tim said. “He said he did this because if he just put the bus in the ditch the truck would have hit the middle of the bus injuring the students on board.”
“But, if he pointed the front of the bus at the oncoming semi he would get hit and not them. It was a split-second decision that could have cost him his life. But he said,’any bus driver would have done the same.’”