A Wake County, North Carolina (NC), public school bus stop that residents long characterized as dangerous was the site of a serious accident on the morning of September 20, 2016. An 11-year-old student at Rolesville Middle School was struck by a 16-year-old driver who ran off the road while speeding and attempting to use a right-hand turn lane to make an illegal pass.
The young boy sustained a broken kneecap and other more-minor injuries. A second middle schooler narrowly avoided the out-of-control car and escaped injuries. The teen driver has been charged and will likely bear some responsibility for settling personal injury claims and paying other damages to the family of the boy he hit.
The site of the bus stop crash, Casine Court and U.S. 401/Louisburg Road, is a primarily rural stretch of six-lane highway bordered by housing developments. The speed limit on Louisburg Road is 55 mph, and the entrance to Casine Court is located at the end of a slight curve. As one nearby resident told television station WNCN, a bus stop collision ““was just a matter of time. … People use that turning lane as a passing lane. You run the statistics, it was just a matter of time before a child got hit.”
Similar concerns were reportedly shared with Wake County school officials for more than a decade. The bus stop was immediately relocated for the Wednesday morning following the Tuesday morning incident. If evidence shows that school system officials failed to act earlier on definitive evidence that the Casine Court intersection posed a risk to students’ safety, the school might also bear some responsibility for compensating the injured child’s family. Schools become negligent when they fail to take appropriate steps to protect students’ health.
EJL