About 3:37 p.m. Pacific daylight time on Thursday, April 24, 2014, a 2012 Blue Bird 78-passenger All American school bus, operated by the Orange Unified School District in Anaheim, California, and occupied by a 24-year-old male driver and 11 students, aged 12-14 years old, was returning children home from the El Rancho Charter Middle School. The bus was traveling northbound in the 6500 block of Nohl Ranch Canyon Road in Anaheim. The posted speed limit was 35 mph, but the bus was traveling at a video-estimated speed of 43 mph when it left the roadway. The weather was clear, and the roadway was dry.

​ We determined that the probable cause of the Anaheim, California, crash was the driver’s loss of consciousness, resulting in his loss of control of the school bus, which departed the roadway and collided with a light pole and trees. Reducing the severity of passenger injuries in the area of maximum intrusion was the proper use of the available lap/shoulder belts by the student passengers seated in this area.

We made recommendations to​ ​​​​the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the State of California, the Natinoal Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National Association for Pupil Transportation, National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, and National School Transportation Association.​​​