Car/Bus Accident In Mendota Heights

Tuesday morning, there was a chilling sight of a car/ school bus collision in Mendota Heights. On the school bus were 26 students from the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights which collided with a Grand Prix just before 9 a.m. at Minnesota 110 and Charlton Street, west of Mendota Road. Six students were taken to the hospital and later released. The incident is still under investigation, although the heavy rain and speed may have contributed to the collision.

In covering the collision the Pioneer Press had an extensive list of bus accidents in the area:

March 19, 2009: An 81-year-old woman dies after crashing into a Northfield, Minn., school bus. She had failed to stop at a stop sign.

May 23, 2007: A 6-year-old boy waiting for his bus in downtown St. Paul is crushed to death after he falls under the wheels of a school bus carrying fellow students.

May 17, 2007: A 14-year-old Scandia girl and the man driving her home from school die when their minivan crashes into the back of a school bus stopped along a northern Washington County road. Eleven students riding the bus are uninjured; the bus driver suffers minor injuries.

Jan. 31, 2007: Seven people are injured, including five students, when a St. Francis school district bus crosses the center line, colliding with a car and flipping onto its side.

Dec. 8, 2006: A school bus loses control at Minnesota 65 and Constance Boulevard in Ham Lake. The bus clips a station wagon and broadsides an SUV before slamming into a traffic-signal pole, injuring 24. The bus driver said the accident was caused by brake failure.

Sept. 15, 2006: A St. Paul elementary school bus lands in the middle of Interstate 94 in rush-hour traffic. A low gas tank caused the bus to stall and roll backward. A child is taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

June 2, 2006: An empty school bus strikes and kills a boy crossing a street on his way to school in Rice Lake, Wis.

March 30, 2006: Two Chaska High School students are injured when the car they are riding in collides head-on with a school bus.

While the collisions all could have been worse, it is always scary for any parent to hear that a school bus is involved. The most resent research indicates that 17,000 children end up in the emergency room each year after being injured on the bus. Hopefully, more consideration will be given to adding seat belts to these buses.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides a nice handbook that all children should review and parents should talk to them about. Each of my boys seemed to get something from it. I want to make sure on those days they take the bus they get back safely.