Random Lake school bus rollover crash; father of injured kids wants change
TOWN OF FREDONIA, Wis. - Dozens of Ozaukee County students are recovering after their school bus was hit and flipped on Monday, Sept. 16.
Eight kids were taken to the hospital.
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Moments after John Mesich and his wife walked their five kids to the bus stop in the Town of Fredonia, they heard a crash, which was followed by a text they will never forget.
"They thought they were going to die," said Mesich, who had four of the kids taken to the hospital. "That was the text that we got from our second-oldest son, was that the bus was just flipped. So that’s what I saw as I was trying to put my shoes on and get down there."
Mesich family
Mesich ran to find the Random Lake School District bus, with 36 kids on board, flipped on its side.
"All the children hit other children," Mesich said. "So they flew out of their seats and then the bus flipped over so some of the kids were the ones who hit the windows and those are some of the ones that went with injuries for that."
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He said his kids suffered neck injuries and bruising, but they are back home Tuesday.
The school bus was heading north on County Highway E around 7:30 a.m. Monday. Investigators say when the bus came to the intersection and Jay Road, that's when a Jeep blew the stop sign and hit the bus.
"It’s a blind intersection, it’s very hard to see and people going through stop signs happens all the time," Mesich said. "So there’s a lot of near misses on a regular basis."
Random Lake school bus rollover crash, 8 students injured
A school bus was involved in an crash in the Town of Fredonia, Ozaukee County, on Monday morning, Sept. 16.
On Tuesday, he started collecting signatures to push for change, whether it’s a four-way stop sign, more signage, or rumble strips.
"Intersections like this that are undersigned or need extra devices that we get those in place," he said.
The Ozaukee County Public Works Department said in the last seven and a half years, there have been six crashes at the intersection, including Monday’s.
None were fatal, but Mesich isn’t waiting for that to happen.
"The safety of children is paramount," he said.
The Public Works Department said they are reviewing Wisconsin Department of Transportation guidelines for four-way stops, as well as other options, like looking at what drivers see when crossing the intersection.