APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – It happened in four states within three days, and the school year is just two months in. Six bus stop crashes resulted in five children dead and eight others seriously injured.
“I don’t feel safe,” said Kristin Robertson, an Appleton mother of three. “I don’t feel like people are paying attention or even care.”
Robertson said, even with these recent tragedies making headlines across the country, people don’t seem phased.
People don’t realize that the speed changes from down further on BB to here. You know, people are still going 45 miles an hour and not paying attention.
Robertson’s daughter gets on the bus on County Highway BB, which sees more traffic than the average residential street.
“As a mom I’m concerned about it,” she said.
“Accidents that occur with pedestrians over 25 mph are far more likely to be fatal,” said Jeremy Wildenberg, transportation manager for Green Bay Area Public Schools. He says following all of the recent bus stop deaths, he’s asked bus drivers to be extra vigilant.
“I sent out, recently, a guidance to our bus companies to kind of follow up with their drivers on their monthly training meetings,” said Wildenberg.
While bus drivers and students are taught how to avoid dangerous situations, it’s ultimately on drivers.
“I like to think of an acronym called snow,” said Wildenberg.
It stands for ‘Slow down, no distractions, observe traffic laws, watch and wait,’ all things Robertson says drivers aren’t doing.
“People do not stop both ways. They seem to only want to stop behind the bus even so they sometimes pass the bus and the traffic,” said Robertson, adding that drivers on the opposing side rarely stop at all.
According to Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation, even on a four-lane road, all lanes of traffic must stop for a school bus. The only time opposing lanes do not have to stop, is if the highway is divided with a center median
Robertson says police have been responsive to her concerns.
“It’s a lot to ask a police department to be here daily. It’s got to be a culture change, its got to be a routine change for people to stop and listen, and imagine if your kids lived here,” she said.
