HURON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A week after a school bus slid into a ditch along Clark Road, as police said the driver was trying to avoid potholes, neighbors and parents are still pushing for repairs and say recent rain has made conditions worse.
The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. April 9 near Clark and Judd roads, according to Huron Township Director of Public Safety Everette Robbins.
Robbins said the driver was traveling at an appropriate speed and was driving along the right side of the road to avoid potholes when the road surface collapsed.
“This appears to simply be a case of the road being soft, and the driver took the appropriate actions to do what could be done to avoid something worse,” Robbins said in a statement, adding that the driver was not texting or violating Michigan’s hands-free law.
Three students reported minor injuries and were evaluated at the scene before being released to their parents, officials said.
Other students were transferred to another bus, taken to school, or released to their parents.
A week later, the part of the road where the bus went into the ditch is still coned off.
Residents who live along Clark Road say standing water after several days of rain is accelerating damage.
“As you can see here, it’s flooded in, so that was a pretty deep hole due to the bus going in there,” said Heather Riddle, who lives nearby. “All it’s doing with all this water just sitting there is further causing damage to the road.”
Parents and neighbors say the potholes are difficult to avoid even when the road is dry, and nearly impossible to dodge after rain when the holes fill with water.
Sarah Grossman, who was waiting for the bus with her daughter when it crashed down the road from them, said she and others helped students off the bus.
“Nothing’s happened so far. We haven’t seen the county out here addressing the situation at all,” Grossman said. “We know they came out earlier in the year, but it would be nice to see them caring more.”
The Wayne County Department of Public Services said the road was last graded on March 14.
While the road was repaired after the April 9 accident, it still hasn’t been graded.
A spokesperson for the department said the road is scheduled to be graded again soon, likely in the next few business days after the rain dries.
Those who live along the road said vehicles routinely slide into ditches after heavy rain because the shoulders and embankments soften.
“Anytime there’s heavy rain, all the embankments on the sides are soft,” Grossman said. “It explains why what happened with the bus did happen, and plenty of people go in the ditches.”
Parents say they want more than a temporary fix.
“I’m just hopeful that we can maybe look into other plans for the road, other than just filling it with dirt — maybe pavement at this point — at least for this main road where there’s a lot of traffic, where the kids are being transported on the bus,” Riddle said.
Grossman said more routine maintenance would be a start.
“It’s one of those things where I think if there was proper road maintenance, there would be less debate on whether or not we should even have to pave it or not,” she said. “I think people would be happier if it was just maintained properly.”