School bus collides with car near Red Deer. Shannon Dow, 51, remains in critical condition

ALBERTA - [ctv edmonton] -- One person is in critical condition after a school bus carrying a high school sports team collided head on with a car north of Red Deer Saturday evening.

The crash happened near the town of Blackfalds on Highway 2-A at around 6:30.

The details of the crash are unclear, but RCMP believe the driver of the car, said to be a Ford Taurus, lost control and crossed the centre line before colliding with the bus.

RCMP say the woman driving the car was left in critical condition after her vehicle was cut in half from the impact of the collision.

Red Deer Public schools says one of the teachers who was driving the bus performed CPR on the driver of the car, now identified by police as Shannon Dow, 51, of Lacombe.

No one on the bus was injured.

The 22 students and two teachers from Thurber High School were returning from a basketball tournament in Wetaskiwin.

Red Deer Public Schools spokesperson says they have a policy that doesn't permit travel in poor conditions, but they say when students left Wetaskiwin the roads were clear.

"They operated in as safe a manner as possible," said spokesperson Bruce Buruma. "They took a route that understood to be in better condition and were driving extremely slow at the time that the accident did occur."

Police say there was heavy snowfall and high winds at the time of the crash, but speed may have been a factor.

"Even with bad road conditions, speed is always a factor, driving too fast for road conditions, but everybody is doing it. The bottom line in driving is not recommended in these conditions period," said RCMP Cpl. Irv Heide.

RCMP have ruled out alcohol as being a factor.