Four-way stop at site of school bus crash unlikely

Making the intersection of Highway E and Jay Road in the Town of Fredonia a four-way stop is highly unlikely and there’s virtually no chance that a roundabout can be installed there, Ozaukee County officials say.

“Making that intersection a four-way stop would give people a false sense of security” and would not solve the issue there that residents believe contributed to a crash in September in which an SUV rammed a Random Lake School District bus carrying 36 children, sending many of them to local emergency rooms and clinics, county Highway Commissioner Jon Edgren told the county Public Works Committee last month.

County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt, a Town of Port Washington farmer who frequently drives through that intersection, agreed.

“You could put 10 stop signs there and you’d still have people who wouldn’t stop,” he said.

In September, eight students on their way to classes were injured and taken to hospitals after an SUV blew a stop sign on Jay Road and hit the school bus traveling  on Highway E.

The force of the crash spun the bus 180 degrees and caused it to roll over and come to a stop on its side in a ditch.

An unknown number of additional students were taken to clinics and emergency rooms by their parents after they picked them up at the scene of the crash.

Injuries included broken bones, “bumps and bruises” and concussions, officials said.

Parents of children who were injured in the crash want the county to install stop signs on Highway E, a county highway, where it intersects with Jay Road, a Town of Fredonia road, Town of Fredonia Supervisor Matt Miller told the committee.

“I’ve never had more people in the town wanting me to do something,” he said.

After several parents showed up at the Fredonia Town Board meeting last month, supervisors voted to enhance the visibility of stop signs on Jay Road by adding  flashing lights and reflective tape.

Since the crash, county officials also have installed signs on Highway E warning of cross traffic at that intersection and have worked with a homeowner at the corner to trim back tree branches that hindered visibility there.

Installing a roundabout would cost about $2 million and could not be done without a state Department of Transportation grant, as was done at highways 33 and I in the Town of Saukville after there were several fatal crashes there.

Edgren said there have been five crashes at the intersection in the last seven and a half years, not counting the crash in September. Of those, two were failure to stop, as was the case in September’s incident, and three were failure to yield, which are incidents where a vehicle stops but then pulls out in front of an oncoming vehicle.

Parents, however, say that number is based on the number of accident reports filed. The actual number is 21 in that time span, however, based on the number of times law enforcement has responded to crashes at the scene.

In either case, none of the crashes have resulted in fatalities and their frequency and severity aren’t enough to justify a reconstruction of the intersection, Edgren said.

The subject was on the Public Works Committee agenda only as a discussion item and no action was taken.

Edgren said he is currently conducting a speed study on Highway E and will bring that to the committee when it meets in December.