Icy road conditions caused a Lake Washington School District (LWSD) bus to crash into a Puget Sound Energy transformer Monday morning on a hill in the Overlake neighborhood.

There were three students on the bus and no one was injured, according to Kathryn Reith, communications director for LWSD. The bus was on it way to Audubon Elementry School when it hit some ice, slid off the road and hit a transformer at 4720 164th Pl NE at around 8:15 a.m. Power went out to a few homes in the neighborhood, but was restored later that day.

Officials from the district’s transportation department did a check of several roadways Sunday night, but “these spot checks cannot cover the more than 2,000 miles of streets covered by the district buses in any given day,” Reith explained.

“Most roads on the district bus routes were in good shape and there was no indication that use of snow routes was warranted,” Reith said.

Drivers do have discretion to avoid roads and take the snow route if they believe the normal route is unsafe, Reith said. But Monday’s driver was new to the route, Reith said.

“She observed that the roadway at the top of hill was dry and made the decision to proceed,” Reith said. “She could not see the ice that was farther down the road in an area shaded by trees. She proceeded very slowly, nonetheless, which was an important factor in why there were no injuries when the bus did encounter ice.”

Reith said the LWSD transportation department is adding information to the route book for this bus route to ensure that substitute or new drivers to the route are informed about the possibility of icy conditions on this hill even when other roads are fine.

Residents are encouraged to contact the district transportation department at (425) 936-1120 to report icy road conditions.