CHESTERVILLE — One student was hospitalized when a teenager drove her car past a stop sign and collided with a school bus Thursday afternoon, police said.

Brittany Dugal, 18, of Thorndike, was traveling down Route 156 in a black 2004 Chevy Cavalier when she allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign before crossing Route 41, said Lt. David Rackliffe of the Franklin County Sheriff’s department.

Brittany Dugal, 18, of Thorndike, was traveling down Route 156 in a black 2004 Chevy Cavalier when she allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with a school bus. Contributed photo

Emergency responders transported an 11-year-old complaining of pain to Franklin Memorial Hospital after a sedan collided with a school bus in Chesterville. Contributed photo

Dugal collided with a Mt. Blue Regional School District bus that was traveling down Route 41 over the bridge that crosses from Chesterville to Farmington. Her car hit the right front corner of the bus, Rackliffe said.

Dugal told police she was unfamiliar with the area and the intersection, he said. The Chevy was destroyed in the crash and the bus sustained significant damage, but can be repaired.

Alycia Stevens, 33, of New Sharon, was driving the bus carrying 22 children from the middle school ranging from sixth to eighth grades.

Jonathan Chalmers, director of support services for the district, said Stevens called them when the crash happened. The district dispatched another bus to the scene and children were loaded onto the other bus or picked up by parents.

An 11-year-old girl riding the bus complained of pain following the crash and was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Rackliffe said. The girl was released from the hospital Thursday night, according to Chalmers.

Dugal was summoned on a charge of failing to stop at a stop sign, a traffic infraction with a fine of $131.

While there have been crashes in the area before, Rackliffe said he couldn’t say that it is a high number. However, Rackliffe believes that “it is a poorly designed intersection because it has traffic flowing on both sides of an island.”

There have been a number of crashes involving school buses in Franklin County over the past year.

In January, a school bus was involved in a five-vehicle crash on Route 142 in Kingfield. A woman lost control of her car and hit a snow bank, which propelled the car into the front of a school bus on the other side of the road. Meanwhile, the car behind the bus stopped short of hitting it, but was struck from behind by another car, pushing it into the rear of the bus. A fifth car that came upon the scene turned to avoid the pile of cars, crashing into a snowbank. No children on the bus were injured.

In January of 2016, a car collided with a Mt. Blue Regional School District school bus after losing control while speeding on icy roads. Again, no children were injured in the crash, but the car was destroyed.

Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239

mstamour@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @madelinestamour

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