WATERVILLE — No one was injured in a minor crash involving a school bus and a car Thursday afternoon at the intersection of First Rangeway, Chase and Western avenues.
The driver of a sedan struck a school bus carrying four junior high school students and an aide just after the bus driver had stopped on Chase Avenue and was attempting to cross First Rangeway to get to Western Avenue, Waterville police Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said.
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The sedan, which was traveling in a 25 mph zone, hit the bus on the right rear passenger side.
“It was very minor and it happens from time to time,” Rumsey said of the accident, which was reported at 2:13 p.m. “No one was injured. And there was no indication of excess speed.”
Medical personnel checked the students and adults involved; Rumsey said parents of the four students aboard the bus were notified of the accident and arrived at the scene.
The bus, said Rumsey, had minor damage and the car sustained several thousand dollars in damage.
In January 2006, the same intersection was the site of a minor crash involving a school bus carrying 10 junior high school students.
In that accident, a Spring Brook Ice and Fuel Co. oil truck tapped the rear of the bus. Police said at the time the impact was so slight there was barely any damage to either vehicle.
“It’s an intersection that has a higher-than-average number of accidents,” Rumsey said Thursday afternoon.
In April 2010, city councilors voted to buy property from Mount Merici Convent and Academy between Chase and Western avenues to build a crossroad to make the intersection safer.
Mayor Dana Sennett said the project, which called for closing the lower end of Upper Western Avenue except to emergency vehicles and pedestrians, was approved. It was proposed that routine traffic would travel on the new cross road.
The state Department of Transportation had committed to paying as much as $145,000 for the project.
Calls to City Manager Mike Roy and City Engineer Greg Brown regarding the status of the intersection project were not returned Thursday.
Beth Staples — 861-9252
bstaples@centralmaine.com
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