Accident injures four

• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: May 1, 2009 - Page: 4B

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FRENCH SETTLEMENT — Four people were injured Wednesday afternoon in a head-on collision on La. 16 involving a Livingston Parish school bus, police and school officials said Thursday.

But the single student remaining on the bus at the time was not among the injured and only one of the injured appeared to have more than minor ailments, officials said.

A southbound Nissan pickup truck traveling at a high rate of speed around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday tried to avoid a traffic back-up near an auto shop in French Settlement and shifted into the northbound lane of La. 16, town Police Chief Harry Brignac said.

But a school bus for handicapped students was in that lane of the two-lane highway and the vehicles collided, with the right-front, passenger-side of the truck taking the impact’s brunt, Brignac said.

The pickup’s driver, Joshvad D. Aydell, 32, who lives in the French Settlement area, was taken to a hospital by relatives while his wife, Stephanie Aydell, 27, was air-lifted from the scene, Brignac said.

The bus driver, Patricia Hayden, of Holden, whose precise age was not available, and an aide on the bus had minor injuries, Brignac said.

The police chief said charges are pending against Joshvad Aydell. Alcohol is not suspected as a factor, Brignac said.

Livingston Parish School Superintendent Bill Spear said Thursday staff members and the student on the bus were very fortunate to have escaped major injury.