SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2004

Four taken off bus after Rt. 27 School Bus Crash
January 26, 2004

NORTH BRUNSWICK: A bus driver for the Franklin Board of Education crashed a bus carrying three children and an aide into the back of a snowplow yesterday morning on Route 27, authorities said.

Esther Wall, 59, of the East Millstone section of Franklin was driving the bus owned by the Franklin Board of Education north on Route 27 yesterday when the accident happened at 10:46 a.m. As she approached Sherwood Boulevard, she encountered four snow plows clearing snow from the northbound shoulder, said Capt. Donald Conry, North Brunswick police spokesman. Following the plows was a pickup truck with yellow flashers alerting drivers to the snow clearing operation, he said.

Wall drove ahead of the pickup and as she was passing the plow that was last in line, the bus's rear-view mirror caught the dump truck's plow, Conry said.

"She got too close to the last of the snow plows," Conry said.

Wall lost control of the bus and the right back bumper got caught on the plow of that same dump truck, a 1993 Mack truck owned by C.E.J. & Sons in New Brunswick, Conry said. The bus then slammed into the back of the third dump truck, a 2001 Mack owned by W.R. Burnett of Monmouth Junction, he said. None of the truck drivers was injured. The northbound side of the highway was closed for an hour.

The bus was carrying two 3-year-olds and a 4-year-old, all boys, and an aide who was not injured.

Conry said all children were in car seats and the two adults were wearing seat belts.

William Westfield, Franklin schools superintendent, said Wall and two of the children were taken for X-rays at Robert Wood Johnson. The children had no bruises and no apparent broken bones, he said.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said no information was available on any of the victims.

Wall was involved in a fatal accident in 1998, but was not found to be at fault in that crash, authorities said. But following a review by the state Division of Motor Vehicles, she was ordered to undergo a defensive driving course because investigators found no skid marks at the accident site, said Derrick Stokes, spokesman for the state Motor Vehicle Commission.

In the crash yesterday in North Brunswick, Wall did not brake before crashing into the back of a snowplow, said Conry.

Yesterday's accident was still under investigation and no summonses had been issued, Conry said.

Wall currently has no points on her license and her record shows only a 1988 ticket for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, Stokes said.

After information concerning Wall's driving history became apparent, further calls were placed to Westfield, but were not returned.

When Board President Eva Nagy was asked about the fatal 1998 collision, she said, "My understanding is that she was cleared in that accident."

She declined further comment, saying she was not permitted to discuss personnel matters.

The fatal accident occurred at South Middlebush Road and Suydam Road at 6:35 a.m. on June 2, 1998. Sharise Reed, 23, of Franklin Park was driving east on Suydam Road in a 1996 Isuzu Rodeo and Wall was heading south on South Middlebush Road in a 1991 International school bus, authorities said. One of the women ran a traffic signal at the intersection, although it was not clear who, authorities said.

Reed slammed into the side of the bus and was thrown from the Isuzu. She was declared dead shortly after the accident.

Published in the Home News Tribune

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