NATIONAL COALITION OF SCHOOL BUS SAFETY NEWS 2007

Rising Sun Accident Doesn’t Merit Change in Bus Stop, Schools Say
April 16, 2007

County school officials say they have no plans to adjust a Rising Sun bus stop following an accident that sent a kindergartener to the hospital Thursday.

“It’s an unfortunate situation that occurred but we have reviewed the stop and we believe it’s an adequate place to stand,” schools’ transportation supervisor Bob Markwardt said Friday.

According to the Rising Sun Police Department, the 5-year-old girl was waiting for the school bus to pick her up at East Main Street when she darted between two parked cars on Maple Heights Lane and into the path of a Ford Taurus driven by the mother of a schoolmate.

“From what we understand, she was trying to run across the street to give her father a kiss before the bus picked her up,” Rising Sun Police Chief Al Michael said. “Her father was waiting in a vehicle across the street and saw the whole thing.”

The child was taken to Christiana Hospital in Delaware and released to her parents later in the day.

The child’s mother, Amanda Giordanelli, said the girl was bumped and bruised, but otherwise doing well.

“I hope to have her back in school on Monday,” Giordanelli said.

Police said speed did not appear to be a factor in the accident. The bus also was not in the vicinity at the time of the accident, according to police and school officials.

Although the girl did not suffer any serious injuries, several parents in the Maple Heights neighborhood, including Giordanelli, have said they hope the accident convinces school officials to move the bus stop into the neighborhood and off East Main Street, which is also a state highway.

“All the kids that use the bus stop are from this neighborhood and for some of them it’s about a half-mile walk,” Giordanelli said.

Markwardt said, however, that he personally examined the bus stop before concluding that the two housing developments on Maple Heights Lane do not conform to the department’s conditions for establishing a bus stop in a residential development.

“The streets in the neighborhood of single-family homes are not complete and haven’t been made public roads,” Markwardt said, citing one of the five conditions posted on the transportation department’s Web site at trans.ccps.org/faq.htm. “In the neighborhood of townhouses, the bus would have to back up, and we typically don’t send buses down roads that have horizontal parking along both sides because there’s just too much that can happen.”

Markwardt said that by comparison, the current bus stop on East Main Street does not require school buses to make any tricky maneuvers, while the sidewalks on Maple Heights Lane provide students with a relatively safe path to and from the bus.

“Honestly, I’m not sure how much safer we can make it,” he said.

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