MILWAUKEE — A deadly crash into a Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus on Saturday night marked the second fatal crash in a week involving a driver crashing into an occupied bus.
Saturday's crash happened near 35th and Wisconsin Avenue just after 9:30 p.m.
Police said the driver of the car was headed South on 35th Street when it crashed into the bus, which was traveling East on Wisconsin Avenue.
A passenger in the car died, the 29-year-old driver and a 33-year-old passenger were seriously injured and taken to the hospital.
On the bus, seven passengers were hurt and were taken to hospitals. The driver of the car was also taken into custody.
"Enough is enough. Reckless driving is an epidemic and we must keep working to end traffic violence, ensure our neighborhoods are peaceful and save lives," MCTS said in a statement on Saturday.
That statement comes just days after another deadly crash into a MCTS bus late Thursday night. In that case, Police said a driver slammed into the bus traveling at over 100MPH.
The driver of that car died, and seven others were hurt including the bus driver who was still able to put out a fire using a fire extinguisher.
On Friday, MCTS leaders said reckless driving crashes involving buses are up 40% so far this year, compared to last year.
While reporting on these deadly crashes, TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins wanted to gain perspective from a safe driving advocate in our community who has been a constant voice working to combat reckless driving.
Celia Jackson is a founding member and volunteer with the Coalition for Safe Driving MKE. She joined Jenkins on TMJ4 News at 10 on Sunday to discuss the recent crashes:
Ryan Jenkins: "Two deadly crashes into MCTS buses in as many days, what is your initial reaction to that as someone who has been kind of a constant voice in trying to combat reckless driving on Milwaukee Streets?"
Celia Jackson: "Well, It's heartbreaking. I hear about these crashes, the fatalities and speed is generally a factor, of course, going through a red light seems to have been the case in both of these incidents but it really is just a symptom of some of the challenges we have in the city.
I think we are all hurting, from a number of things not just the driving, but just some of the things that have been in the news in the last few weeks. I mean our community is really hurting and these two crashes are symptomatic of it in another way."
Ryan Jenkins:" When you say all of these crashes are symptoms of a hurting community, what do you mean and why is that so?"
Celia Jackson: "Well, I have a posture that we have so many disparities in our community and we have so many parts of our community where we haven't necessarily paid attention. So, I think that we really have to raise the question, 'What's missing?'. There's something missing, that all of the requests and all of the calls for people to slow down or for people to drive safer are not having the kind of impact that we want to see.
There have been a number of efforts that have been made over the course of time, and some of them we just have to see what actually will see because it's not going to happen overnight, but, we have to raise the question of who are are, what do we really value in this community? Do we value each other? Do we value life? Are we providing the kind of support in places where people think we might be that are being overlooked? What is the root cause of why we are seeing so many of these deadly scenarios on our streets? And I don't know if any of us really have an answer to that, but I do know that we have to find a way to value people pretty much in an equitable way and I'm not really quite sure that that's always happening."
Ryan Jenkins: "On Friday, we heard from MCTS leaders and from city leaders, like Mayor Johnson, who put out that message or a call for safer streets, but then the next day another deadly crash into a county bus. What needs to change to have that call to action land?"
Celia Jackson: "I don't really think that there are any easy answers, I don't think that there are any easy fixes. I think that if there were we would have seen some evidence of that. I just think that we have to continue to beat the drum and call for safer streets and for safer driving but I just don't think that hearing it in the form of 'Everybody Slow Down' necessarily resonates in all of the places that it needs to."
To learn more about how MCTS drivers work to avoid crashes like these, click HERE.
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