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Bus driver ticketed following collision between school bus and car

Mon, 08/22/2011 - 12:30pm | The News-Gazette
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Photo by: John Dixon/The News-Gazette
Champaign Unit 4 students are transferred from Bus 107, right, which was involved in a collision with a car, to an undamaged bus at Duncan Road and Edward Hoffman Drive in Champaign about 11:10 a.m. Monday, the first day of school.

CHAMPAIGN — A school bus driver has been ticketed, and one child reported what appears to be a minor injury, following a collision Monday morning in northwest Champaign.

Champaign police spokeswoman Rene Dunn said a Champaign school bus driven by Janelle Moore-Colbert, 30, of Rantoul, collided with a 1996 Buick driven by Lee E. Bergfield of Arcola, at the intersection of Duncan Road and Edward Hoffman Drive.

Dunn said Moore-Colbert crossed Duncan going west on Edward Hoffman and the bus was hit by Bergfield's car, which was southbound on Duncan. The car suffered damage to a headlight assembly.

Moore-Colbert was  ticketed for failure to yield at a stop or yield intersection, according to Dunn. She said the bus had 18 children on it.

One of the children, Omarion Turner, 6, was complaining of pain and was taken to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana for evaluation.

Dunn said that a second bus came to the location to take the rest of the children to their destination.

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koffeeking wrote on August 22, 2011 at 1:08 pm

As a parent of a six year old who rides a Unit 4 bus this is concerning. School buses speed through our neighborhood on a regular basis.

CU-Mommy wrote on August 22, 2011 at 2:08 pm

This is one of the reasons why my children won't ride the school bus! Unit 4 or not!

read the DI wrote on August 22, 2011 at 3:08 pm

I guess she didn't get the reminder about the school zone laws.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts-police-and-fire/2011-08-22/polic...

sanjuan wrote on August 22, 2011 at 4:08 pm

Last week during what I suppose were test runs a Unit 4 bus going east on St. Mary's from Neil was going way faster than the 25mph limit, switched lanes without signalling and made a right turn without signalling. Three violations in two blocks. Nice start to the school year.

debbie d wrote on August 23, 2011 at 7:08 am

i agree with the all the comments. school bus drivers are careless when it comes to obeying the laws. i don't even live in the unit 4 school district and the drivers in the pbl school district don't obey either! i was driving south on rt. 45 and a schol bus ran a stop sign turned out in front of me into MY lane causing me to slam on my breaks while he completed his turn. what is up with these drivers? do they think that since they are bigger than a car that they have the right of way? and what good does it do when ya call the school/bus garage to report them? just swept under the rug. we as parents are supposed to trust these people to get our kids safely to the destination and back home. now something like this happens, what do ya think happens to the trust?

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