Car stopped for Dexter school bus flipped when rear-ended
A Dexter High School student captured this picture from a school bus that was letting students off. A red truck that had stopped for the bus was rear-ended, causing it to flip onto its side.
Photo courtesy of Alec Smerage
A car stopped for a Dexter Community School bus was flipped on its side when it was rear-ended by another vehicle, police said.
The bus was stopped with its lights on indicating students were getting off when one vehicle struck the other vehicle from behind, causing a rollover, said Sgt. Geoff Fox of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office.
There were no injuries. The Dexter Area Fire Department responded to the accident at 4:11 p.m. Wednesday in the 4200 block of North Territorial Road, said firefighter Ed Root.
Lucia Smerage's son, Dexter High School student Alec, was on the bus and captured an image of the red truck on its side.
"Debris from the accident hit the bus, but apparently no one was hurt," Smerage wrote in an email to AnnArbor.com. "It seems like a good time to remind people to stop for a bus that is unloading children."
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
mernie766
Fri, Jun 7, 2013 : 1:46 p.m.
The driver of the pick-up truck, while not seriously injured did sustain back and neck injuries. Those can last a lifetime. Slow down people!
OutfieldDan
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 3:29 p.m.
No way no one was hurt. Maybe the adrenalin rush overcame the feeling of an injury. I bet in the morning the next day some one was feeling pain.
Elaine F. Owsley
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 11:03 a.m.
Was the offending driver ticketed? Arrested? Time to sentence him'/her to driving school. Need to learn the rules.
Ann English
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 10:59 p.m.
NO injuries? When someone you know gets hurt as a passenger of a vehicle that gets rear-ended by someone not paying attention, it's amazing to read that someone else getting rear-ended doesn't get hurt. I'm sure that the vehicle hitting the truck was more damaged than the pickup was. Reports have been written of North Territorial Road residents getting hit by vehicles while they were crossing the road to get or return to their homes with their mail. Mailboxes on the south side of North Territorial Road, residents on the north side. Survivors should describe the traffic like it is described in this story.
tim
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 8:52 p.m.
Too many people that use N Territorial drive on it like it's a highway--- It's not-- slow down or sell your house and and buy one next to 23 or 94
a2grateful
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:48 p.m.
The driver that failed to stop is quite fortunate that the pickup was behind the bus. Rear ending an elevated bus bumper typically results in severe injury or fatality for the rear-ending driver.
jns131
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 9:53 p.m.
Should see some that I have seen. Luckily most are stopped by the hood. This is why we have a hook on the tail end of our bus. To keep it from getting that far. Just glad no one got hurt.
foobar417
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:27 p.m.
First, glad no one was hurt. Second, when I read about this type of accident, I realize why most comments about yesterday's article about a pedestrian crosswalk and every article about new bike lanes or any other change are so discouraging. When there's a potential safety improvement for cyclists or pedestrians, the general tenor of much of the comments is "Pedestrians/cyclists do stupid / illegal / unexpected things. They should never ask for a single accommodation, break a single law, or behave in a way that makes it harder for me as a driver to just cruise on down the road without a care." And yet, it is clearly drivers who are operating heavy equipment in an environment which lots of unexpected things can happen, such as a school bus stopping (OK, that was a bit sarcastic) or a pedestrian using an unsignalized crosswalk or a cyclist taking a lane due to poor pavement conditions along the edge of the road, and lots of illegal things can happen, like a pedestrian dashing across a road not in a crosswalk, or a cyclist rolling a stop sign, or a car racing to beat the yellow light and going through a red light/ No driver wants to kill or injure someone, so why the resistance to driving slower and more defensively and supporting the building accommodations for other legal users of the roadways (i.e. cyclists and pedestrians)?
marqueA2
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 2:53 p.m.
"why the resistance to driving slower and more defensively...?" Because the attitude is: "This is Merica!! How dare you try to restrict my freedoms to do whatever the $%$# I choose!" As an avid cycling, this attitude makes me sad.... and extremely cautious. -marqueA2
lisam
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:16 p.m.
If I had not seen the picture, your caption does not make a lot of sense. "Car stopped for Dexter school bus flipped when rear-ended." It makes it sound like the car itself was rear-ended after the car was stopped for the Dexter school bus."
Peggy
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 9:55 p.m.
@lisam, Very Refreshing!
Reason
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 6:18 p.m.
Well your confusion is understandable--it's an extremely confusing heading! Better to have a clear heading and capture the details in the text.
jcj
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 6:01 p.m.
iisam Thanks it is refreshing to hear someone admit they made a mistake. I have made that mistake myself numerous times.
lisam
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:18 p.m.
Well, I'm the idiot. Sorry. I didn't read the article thoroughly. It's what I deserve. My apologies to you.
pegret
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:13 p.m.
Someone must have been going pretty fast, and not paying attention. How frightening for the poor driver who was just sitting there, obeying the law. Good thing no kids were crossing!
fisherman
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 4:09 a.m.
Of course, North Territorial Road is a paved road, so let's not blame the brakes. It's drivers following too closely or not paying attention to conditions on the road ahead of them.
Paul
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 1:22 a.m.
Maybe and maybe not, these anti lock brake cars don't stop as quickly on dirt roads as the older brakes used to lock up the tires and the dirt got wedge between the tires and help slow the cars down. The tires dig itself deeper in the road when locking up and skidding to a stop, the dirt builds up in front of the tires when the tires stop turning...look it up on google, its proven that anti lock brake cars--pick up trucks take longer to stop on dirt roads. True, if you just go 35 mph on dirt roads, all is just fine, stopping no problem, at 55 mph is a different story
Fordie
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:04 p.m.
Are we all supposed to know who Lucia Smerage is? "Dexter student Alec..." "Lucia Smerage's son, Dexter High School student Alec" Give the student some credit. It's his picture.
arborani
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 2:44 p.m.
Good picture, good kid.
sellers
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:11 p.m.
Depends on who submitted the picture, Lucia may have submitted it on behalf of her son and requested the credit to be displayed as it was. As a minor, this may be required?
Fordie
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 5:05 p.m.
Glad nobody was hurt, of course.
squidlover
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:58 p.m.
Very glad to hear that nobody was hurt. This happened while stopped for a school bus with it's lights on; and people wonder why motorists are hesitant to stop for crosswalks as the law demands. Too many drivers not paying attention to their task and surroundings.
tosviol8or
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 11:18 p.m.
"Many (drivers) barely stop for stop signs..." What does that mean? Either one stopped, or one did not. If a driver stops and there's no traffic to which one must yield, there's no minimum required time to remain stopped. Drivers who stop, then sit there for ten seconds to observe the lack of traffic on the cross street, are worse for calm and efficient traffic flow than those who "barely stop."
edredneck
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 1:22 p.m.
Twenty to one it was a tail-gator = people cannot learn to keep their distance from the vehicle in front and they're also so impatient to get around and ahead and instead get a head-on.
Thoughtful
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 12:25 p.m.
There are so many drivers who are just so important and in a hurry. Many barely stop for stop signs, and are reluctant to waste their time letting pedestrians cross at a crosswalk in front of a stop sign. Just can't be bothered. Why look for school buses? It's not like they aren't out at about the same time EVERY day, for 9 plus months a year.
Ricardo Queso
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 3:43 a.m.
That 19th century was a doozer, wasn't it Paul?
Paul
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 1:12 a.m.
We need an edit button on here...make that 20th century, maybe by the 21st it get paved, lol
Paul
Sat, May 4, 2013 : 1:11 a.m.
Same for yellow lights, you could stop and get hit. Need to watch out from behind once in a while. . Is that a dirt road ? If so, traffic could stop better if the road was paved, it is the 21st century.
Linda Peck
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 3:52 p.m.
Apparently, this is a road where cars move pretty fast, and apparently someone was not paying attention to what was in front of them. I dislike this behavior on our streets, roads, and highways. It endangers all of us. I would like to know if a citation was issued to the person who caused this accident.
justcurious
Fri, May 3, 2013 : 7:15 p.m.
Did you ever see the sign that someone put out on N. Territorial that read "Slow Down! This is not a "blankety-blank" freeway!!!" I often thought of putting one out front here. But I doubt it did much good there anyway.