A 74-year-old Swanzey man is dead after his pickup truck collided head-on with a Monadnock Regional Middle-High School bus carrying 13 students on Route 12 in Marlborough early Friday morning, May 15. State troopers identified the driver as David Peloski, the sole occupant of a red 2008 Ford F-250, and said no students aboard the bus were seriously hurt. According to NHPR, the bus was driven by 77-year-old James French of Keene, who was injured but whose injuries were described by the bus company as non-life-threatening.

The crash happened shortly before 7 a.m. on Route 12 near Webb Depot Road, a rural stretch of state highway that winds through Cheshire County between Keene and Brattleboro, Vermont. The road was closed for hours while New Hampshire State Police accident reconstruction specialists documented the scene. By midday Friday, the highway had reopened, but the questions hanging over a small Monadnock-region community had only just begun.

What Happened on Route 12

State Police said the bus, operated by a regional contractor on behalf of the Monadnock Regional School District, was on its morning route bringing students from outlying communities into the district’s combined middle and high school in Swanzey Center. The bus was traveling north on Route 12 when the Ford F-250 driven by Peloski crossed into its lane. The two vehicles struck head-on. Peloski was pronounced dead at the scene.

The bus driver, French, was treated for what the bus company described as non-life-threatening injuries. All 13 students on board were evaluated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and were assessed as being in safe condition. They were transported to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene for further evaluation as a precaution. Parents were notified through the district’s emergency communications system, and the school’s crisis-response team was activated within the hour.

Monadnock Regional School Superintendent Jeremy Rathburn issued a brief statement Friday morning thanking the first responders who reached the scene within minutes of the collision. “On behalf of the whole district, we would like to send a heartfelt thank you to the first responders and emergency personnel who were on the scene this morning,” Rathburn said. “Their quick action kept our kids safe and supported during a very scary moment; we truly cannot thank them enough for everything they do.”

By Friday afternoon, the district had counselors available at the middle and high school campus for students who wanted to talk. School officials said attendance would not be marked against any student who chose to stay home in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and that the district would coordinate with families on a case-by-case basis on transportation arrangements over the weekend and the following Monday.

A Stretch of Road With a History

Route 12 between Keene and Marlborough is a two-lane, undivided state highway that carries a mix of commuter traffic, school transportation and through-trucking heading toward Vermont and points west. The stretch near Webb Depot Road runs through a rolling, partially wooded landscape with limited shoulders and intermittent driveways feeding onto the highway. There is no center barrier, and at the time of Friday’s crash the posted speed limit through the area was 50 miles per hour, dropping closer to the town’s commercial district.

Local residents have raised concerns at past town meetings about the difficulty of safely entering and exiting Route 12 at certain points along this corridor, particularly during early-morning and late-afternoon commuting peaks when school buses, work commuters and delivery trucks share the road. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation has previously studied speed and crash data along the route, but no significant geometric changes have been made in recent years.

Cheshire County has not been spared from the same national pattern of rising serious-injury crashes that other rural New England counties have logged over the past five years. Head-on collisions on rural undivided highways remain one of the most lethal categories of crash nationally, according to data tracked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, because the relative impact speed of two vehicles approaching one another is typically the sum of their travel speeds. Closing speeds in the 80-to-100-mile-per-hour range are common in these crashes, and pickups, in particular, often produce devastating outcomes when they meet larger vehicles like school buses head-on.

Why the Students Were Protected

The fact that no Monadnock Regional student was seriously injured Friday is consistent with what crash investigators have documented for decades about modern, properly equipped school buses. Large school buses, sometimes called Type C and Type D buses, distribute crash forces through a high, reinforced frame that sits well above the bumper-and-hood profile of most passenger vehicles. Federal safety standards require these vehicles to meet design rules around roof strength, joint integrity, mirror systems and emergency egress.

The bus involved in Friday’s collision was, by the bus company’s description, a standard full-size yellow Monadnock Regional vehicle. Federal data has consistently shown that children riding inside a school bus are among the safest road users in the country on a per-trip basis. The Granite State has built much of its rural school transportation around that safety profile, in part because the size and weight of buses provide significant crash energy management compared to the small passenger vehicles many parents would otherwise rely on for school drop-off.

That basic physics did not protect the driver of the pickup truck. Single-occupant pickup drivers in head-on crashes with larger vehicles bear the worst of the impact, even with modern airbags and crumple-zone design. Investigators with the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section will examine factors including driver health, road conditions, lighting at the hour of the crash and any roadway markings before issuing a final report.

A Community in Mourning

David Peloski’s family, friends and neighbors in Swanzey were already gathering Friday evening at the Peloski residence, according to neighbors. Swanzey is a small Cheshire County community where many residents have known each other for decades. The town sits just south of Keene and provides much of the residential base for students who attend Monadnock Regional. Family members had not, as of the most recent NHPR update, released a public statement.

In Marlborough, town officials said they were coordinating with the State Police investigation and would post traffic updates if any additional closures or detours became necessary as the investigation continued. The town has occasionally pressed for state-level review of Route 12 safety improvements, particularly during the busy fall foliage tourism season when out-of-state visitors swell traffic volume.

The crash adds to a difficult month for the Monadnock region. For more on how state agencies handle rural transportation and infrastructure decisions, see our reporting on the Eversource X-178 transmission lawsuit that has rallied White Mountains advocates. For background on how New Hampshire’s vehicle inspection regime affects older pickups and rural drivers, see our coverage of the appeals court stay on Gordon-Darby’s emissions inspection contract. And for more on regional school district decision making, see our analysis of how the New Boston police liability ruling shaped accountability for schools and towns.

What’s Next

State Police investigators will produce a final reconstruction report over the coming weeks. The bus company will also produce its own internal review, which is required under federal commercial vehicle regulations whenever a school bus is involved in a fatal crash. The Monadnock Regional School Board has said it will receive a briefing from the district administration at its next regular meeting and will consider whether any local route or scheduling changes should be discussed in light of the crash.

For parents in the district, school officials have asked that any concerns or questions be routed through the district transportation office, which is fielding higher-than-normal call volume in the wake of the crash. Students who witnessed the collision or who were aboard the bus are being prioritized for counseling support, and the district said any family that wants to coordinate alternate transportation through the end of the school year may do so without penalty.

The community of Swanzey, where Peloski had lived for many years, faces its own period of mourning. Local clergy in Swanzey and surrounding towns were preparing to support family and neighbors over the weekend, and several community groups in the Monadnock region indicated they would step in with meals and logistical help if requested.

For Granite State drivers, the crash is a reminder of just how quickly a routine morning on a familiar rural road can change. Investigators have urged anyone with information about the crash, including dashcam footage taken on Route 12 between roughly 6:30 and 7 a.m. on Friday, to contact the New Hampshire State Police Troop C barracks in Keene.

Where exactly did the Marlborough school bus crash happen?

The crash occurred on Route 12 near Webb Depot Road in Marlborough, in Cheshire County, shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday, May 15, 2026. The road was closed for several hours while the State Police accident reconstruction team documented the scene.

How many students were on the school bus?

According to school officials, 13 students from Monadnock Regional Middle-High School were on the bus. All were evaluated by emergency medical personnel at the scene, assessed as being in safe condition, and transported to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene for further evaluation.

Who was killed in the crash?

New Hampshire State Police identified the driver of the pickup truck as David Peloski, 74, of Swanzey. He was the sole occupant of a red 2008 Ford F-250 and was pronounced dead at the scene. The bus driver, 77-year-old James French of Keene, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Why weren't the students seriously hurt?

Modern full-size school buses are designed to distribute crash forces through a high, reinforced frame that sits well above the bumper-and-hood profile of most passenger vehicles. Federal safety standards require strong roof structures, joint integrity and emergency egress. National crash data consistently shows that children riding inside a school bus are among the safest road users on a per-trip basis.

What support is being offered to students and families?

Superintendent Jeremy Rathburn said the district activated its crisis response team within the hour and made counselors available at the Swanzey Center campus. The district has said attendance will not be marked against any student who chooses to stay home in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and is coordinating alternate transportation arrangements with families on a case-by-case basis.

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