Parents of kids hurt in school bus crash want change

Parents of children who were injured in a school bus crash in the Town of Fredonia in September are going to ask Ozaukee County officials this week to put stop signs on Highway E where it intersects with Jay Road, one of the fathers said Monday.

“We hope a four-way stop will be implemented and see how that goes,” said John Mesich, who had four children injured in the crash. “I think with lights flashing on the signs. That’s not a huge cost compared to the insurance claims and the injuries at that intersection. We’re very hopeful.”

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

“It was a good lesson about showing up and making your voices heard,” Town Clerk Christophe Jenkins said.

In September, eight students on their way to classes were injured and taken to hospitals after an SUV blew a stop sign and hit the school bus with 36 students on board at the Town of Fredonia intersection, which officials and residents have described as dangerous.

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.

Four of Mesich’s five children aged 6 to 14, were hurt in the crash and taken to emergency rooms where they were treated and released.

The bus had just stopped at Mesich’s house and picked up his kids before it was hit by the SUV.

“We could hear the crash,” he said.

Mesich said he and his wife were at the scene before first responders and helped children get out of the bus.

“A couple girls were unconscious. We tried to assist as much as we could,” he said.

Jay Road is a town road while Highway E is a county road. That creates a “problematic” situation as far as improving the situation, officials have said.

About a dozen concerned parents attended a meeting of the county Traffic Safety Committee on Oct. 23, asking for better signage and improvements at the Jay Road and Highway E intersection.

Since then, the county has made a few improvements on behalf of the town, including adding secondary stop signs on Jay Road and reflective striping on all the stop signs.

The county also has added flagging on the advanced “stop ahead” signs along with reflective striping on Jay Road and has added an advisory speed limit on Highway E to the northbound “intersection-ahead” sign.

County Highway Commissioner Jon 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.

The frequency and severity of those accidents aren’t enough to justify a reconstruction of the intersection, officials say, when compared to the installation of a roundabout at the intersection of highways 33 and I in the Town of Saukville after several fatal accidents occurred there.

Mesich, however, says that an open record request revealed that there have been 21 crashes there since 2008, although none of them were fatal, he conceded.

“That needs to be a roundabout,” he said. “It’s known to be a dangerous intersection.”

Mesich said the improvements made so far “are still not enough. Neighbors have observed people still running the stop signs.”

Edgren said the county is working with a homeowner near the intersection to cut back vegetation to improve sight lines there.

Mesich said he and other parents are planning on attending the Public Works Committee meeting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, at the county Highway Department.

The intersection is on the meeting agenda as a discussion item. No action is planned to be taken.

“I’ll give an update to PWC on the accident, discussion at the Traffic Safety Commission, improvements already completed and our plans to perform a speed study to acquire actual traffic data,” Edgren  said in an email.