The alert actions of a bus driver helped prevent serious tragedy when a bus of Weare Middle School students and a vehicle containing two Weare high schoolers collided last week.

A car driven by a Weare teen crossed the center line and crashed headlong into a school bus full of middle school kids on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 8, but luckily no one was seriously hurt.

Shantale Dinh, 17, was driving northbound on Route 114 in a white 1997 Mercury Sable belonging to Sarah Kazakis, 16, of Weare, who was in the passenger seat. The girls, best friends since third grade, were heading home. Dinh, who had driven the automatic transmission vehicle a couple times before, was driving because Kazakis was feeling sick from eating too much pizza, said Kazakis.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., the Sable crossed the yellow line into the oncoming southbound lane near the intersection of Route 114 and Ridgeview Road.

Bus driver Bobbi-jo Goulet, 37, had already slowed the bus, which centered 25 to 30 Weare Middle School students, to about 30 to 35 miles per hour because of an approaching stop and saw the Sable driving in her lane.

“When I saw her, I thought she was going to be going back over. I hit my brakes, it happened so fast,” said Goulet. “She came over and never got out.”

Goulet said she only had time to see the white hood of the car and then the spray of the Sable’s windshield glass.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh my God!’” she said. Her arms flew up at the impact. Her seat belt worked well, she reported, leaving some bruising.

Kazakis said she hadn’t noticed the car had gone into the other lane and didn’t know what led up to the crash but that Dinh was not on a cell phone at the time.

“I don’t know how I didn’t notice,” she said. “I remember seeing the bus for a split second, and then I remember panicking to get out.”

Help arrived on the scene almost immediately as a number of medical and security personnel happened to be on the road. Police Chief Gregory Begin said he didn’t see the accident happen but was about six cars behind the bus. Rescue personnel had to extricate the girls from the car using the Jaws of Life device.

“It was the scariest moment of my entire life,” Kazakis said.

Afterward, she said she couldn’t believe it actually happened. “I thought it was a dream,” said Kazakis. “(Dinh) said the same thing, She didn’t actually think it was real.”

Kazakis was taken to Elliot Hospital in Manchester and released with no significant injuries other than bruising. Dinh was taken to Concord Hospital and treated for a broken leg.

Both were wearing seat belts and the airbags had deployed.

Goulet said the bus came slightly off its frame as it was supposed to, and the height and padded seats of the bus helped reduce the shock of impact for the middle school students.

Police said only three students on the bus had minor injuries.

The students were taken back to school on another bus and parents were notified to pick up their kids.

Scott Wood, whose son Jacob, 13, and daughter Savannah, 11, were on the bus along with three other relatives, said his kids were shaken up but fine.

His daughter was seated near the front of the bus but only saw the spray of glass. His son had a cut on his lip. Wood drove to the site to pick them up after his son called him by cell phone.

Goulet, whose daughter was also on the bus, said she’s often seen people driving into her lane during the five years she’s been a school bus driver.

“I see a lot of stuff with driving a bus,” she said. “Route 114 is the worst place to drive a school bus. I have people run my red lights all the time.”

Driving instructor John Ross, who teaches a driving school in Goffstown, emphasized the importance of wearing seat belts and said that teens need to pay attention and understand that they’re operating a dangerous vehicle.

“You’d be surprised how fast your path changes just by changing the radio or answering the cell phone,” he said.

“It’s upsetting but it’s eye opening,” Kazakis said of her experience. She said she and Dinh are safe drivers. “It’s scary to know that it’s happened to me and my best friend so this can happen to anybody at any time.” Her mother, Lisa Kazakis, didn’t want to talk about the accident.

“I’m just glad that everybody‘ s OK and I just want to leave it at that,” she said. “It’s been very traumatizing. God or somebody has taken care of these kids because nothing has happened to them.”