The Harrisonburg Police Department has charged a 70-year-old school bus driver with disregarding a traffic signal and causing a crash that injured dozens of people.

Police say Harold Long was driving a bus north on South Dogwood Drive when he caused the accident.

The accident involved two Harrisonburg School buses and a car at the intersection of South Dogwood Drive and West Market Street in the City of Harrisonburg.

"I didn't see it but I heard it. It was quite a loud boom and I thought something had blown up in the house and I came out. It was a little bit after seven," says Jon Stetson, who lives near the intersection.

Dr. Don Ford, the Superintendent of Harrisonburg City Schools, reports one school bus was headed to Thomas Harrison Middle School when the accident occurred.

Three middle school students, a bus driver and the driver of the passenger car were all taken to the hospital from the scene.

The rest of the students were then driven to school on other buses. When they arrived, at least 17 students at the middle school and nine at the high school notified school officials that they were also injured.

Those students were all taken to RMH for medical evaluations. All these injuries were minor.

Police investigated the scene, but they had to wait to see how many students from the accident were taken to the hospital after they left the scene.

"I expect that number to increase as the day progresses," says Sgt. R. L. Metcalf, Harrisonburg Police Department. "As parents are notified, many are taking their children to be checked out as a precaution. We are still investigating this accident."

Ford says parents of all the students on the buses have been notified.

Tuesday morning, Metcalf says that a bus and car driving westbound on Market Street struck another bus heading north on Dogwood Drive. The buses involved are numbers 23 and 32. Harrisonburg school buses are run by the city transit system.