Cheder Bus With Children On-Board Crashes Into Home in New Hempstead

Mindy Cohen

[Updated: 11:38 a.m.]

This morning’s Nachlas Chaim Ribnitz school bus crash into a house in New Hempstead at around 9:15 a.m. resulted in twenty children being extricated by emergency personnel from the bus and taken to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of injury.  

The bus went off the road and crashed into the house on 36 South Gate Road, hitting a utility pole and causing two vehicles to flip over before colliding with the house.

"I hope all those impacted have a speedy recovery,” Yossi Gestetner, who lives on North South Gate near the scene of the accident, shares with Rockland Daily. “This incident is precisely why speed bumps were installed in the area: Too many people speed too quickly, especially buses and mostly buses who use these streets as cut throughs."

Signs warning of the speed bumps are posted on both sides of the street, along with signs limiting speeds to 15 mph going down and 20 mph going up. 

Before the speed bumps were installed, this same section of North South Gate had three accidents in a short span of time, with vehicles hitting properties due to the curve and lack of speed bumps. The relentless flow of school buses speeding past as they use the street as a shortcut to their destination drove more than half the residents of the area to sign off on installing permanent speed bumps in an effort to create increased safety measures for all.

Emergency personnel, including Rockland Hatzoloh EMS, Ramapo Police Department, Hillcrest Fire Department, and Spring Hill EMS  were at the scene for hours, including Chaverim of Rockland volunteers who assisted with traffic control.

The accident is presently under investigation by the Ramapo Police Department.