High school senior, younger brother in critical condition after crashing into Montgomery County school bus
2 kids injured after car collides with school bus
Two people—one of them a child —are fighting for their lives after their car crashed into a school bus in Montgomery County this morning. Neighbors say that area of Montgomery Village has a big problem with speeding and erratic drivers. FOX 5’s Ayesha Khan is live from where the crash happened with more on residents demanding the county step up and do something.
WASHINGTON - According to a community letter, a senior at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School and his younger brother are in critical condition after the car they were driving in Friday morning slammed into a Montgomery County Public Schools bus.
The Montgomery County Police Department did not immediately confirm the identity of the brothers or give an update on their life-threatening injuries.
Montgomery County Police spokesperson Cassandra Durham said the collision happened Friday morning, shortly after 7:30 a.m. on East Village Avenue.
The school bus was turning left from East Village Avenue onto Plum Creek Drive when it was hit by a a black BMW 328xi.
Durham did not confirm if speed was a factor in the collision.
A spokesperson with MCPS said there were 6 children aboard the bus. No one was hurt except for a few minor injuries. The students were transported via another school bus to Forest Oak Middle School.
Meanwhile, many neighbors have been raising concerns about speeding and aggressive driving in the Montgomery Village neighborhood where the crash happened.
Some neighbors told FOX 5 that they want the county to step up and do more to put a stop to speeding cars.
Kam Khazai said speeding and erratic driving are recurring themes in the corridor of East Village. Khazai said he has witnessed on numerous occasions, a light post at the corner of East Village Avenue and Plum Creek Drive that has been knocked down several times.
"One of the reasons it is such a great neighborhood is its walkability," Khazai said. "There are so many playgrounds. There are so many amenities and pools. It would be nice to be able to walk to them, taking East Village Avenue without feeling like at any point in time someone could jump the curb because they’re going way too fast around the bend."
FOX 5 inquired with the county’s transportation department about resident concerns.
In an emailed response, Strategic Communications Manager Emily DeTitta said:
"Once the MCPD crash investigation is complete, the MCDOT traffic division will receive the redated report, and following that we will conduct a review at the crash location to ensure that all appropriate traffic control devices are in place and in proper condition. We don’t know the circumstances of this crash just yet, but there are MCPD-managed speed cameras on this corridor and the speed limit is posted at 30 mph."
"That doesn’t work," Khazai says. "Whether it’s inadvertent or intentional speeding, people just treat this road like it’s a drag strip. It’s going to come down to needing stop signs at almost every crosswalk and every subdivision to really slow people down."
Police were asking the parents of the students who were on the bus to contact them.