Fire Wire: School bus – car crash on Route 54 and Pre-emption Road

UPDATED: Yates County Sheriff reports an unmarked Sheriff’s Office vehicle crashed into bus

From staff reports, drone photos from YCSO

At about 845am, The Yates County Fire Wire reported:

“Penn Yan Ambulance, Penn Yan Fire, and County Coordinators- responding for the car versus school bus. According to Yates 911- the bus is on its side. No further information.”

Based on local social media chatter injuries to bus passengers were limited to lacerations and bruises. The passengers in the vehicle were reported to be okay and the driver had to be removed by first responders after some entrapment.

Heavy fog appears to be at fault, local Chantel Marie commented:

“The fog was absolutely horrible this morning. It was hard to tell where you were on the road and you couldn’t see very far in front of you. It’s very possible that they just didn’t see the stop sign until it was too late.”

The Yates County Sheriff’s Office responded to the intersection of Pre-Emption Road and State Route 54 for the report of a car vs. school bus crash. The vehicles involved were a Penn Yan Central School District Bluebird Bus and an unmarked Chevrolet Impala owned by the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office. Yates County investigators and accident reconstruction personnel responded to the scene. The cause of the accident is pending the completion of the investigation. The driver of the Impala was issued a traffic ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign.

YCSO STAFF ON SCENE: Dep. Crofoot, Dep. Spaulding, Sgt Cole, YC Criminal Investigations Division, YC Accident Investigations Unit, YC UAV Unit

DATE/TIME SUBMITTED: 10/29/2025 @ 11:50 am

OTHER AGENCIES: Penn Yan FD, Penn Yan Ambulance, Benton FD, Dresden FD, YC EMS, YC OES

REPORTING OFFICER: Lt. Kevin Campbell

DISSEMINATED TO PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA, DISPATCH BY: Lt. Kevin Campbell

These are preliminary reports only, stay tuned or updates.