By Amy Batista, Special Writer
The intersection where an 11-year-old girl was killed on her way to school when a dump truck collided with her school bus in 2012 has been reconstructed.
County Route 660 (Old York Road) was the north/south minor intersecting street controlled by two stop signs. County Route 528 was the east/west major street on which traffic was not required to stop passing through the intersection, according to Joseph Brickey, county director of public works and county engineer.
The intersection has been reconfigured into a “modern roundabout,” he said. The construction began in mid-March and the road reopened on June 20.”Construction took about four months,” Mr. Brickey said. “The road was closed and detoured for 37 days.”
The cost of the project was $1.7 million and was funded by New Jersey Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grants, he said.
”Work won’t be completed till fall due to weather constraints for landscaping,” he said.
He noted that the consideration of a roundabout started in 2007. According to the FHWA website, modern roundabouts are different from rotaries and other traffic circles. For example, roundabouts are typically smaller than the large, high-speed rotaries still in use in some parts of the country. In addition, roundabouts are typically larger than neighborhood traffic circles used to calm traffic.
Compared to other types of intersections, roundabouts have demonstrated safety and other benefits. Roundabouts improve safety with more than 90 percent reduction in fatalities; 76 percent reduction in injuries; 35 percent reduction in all crashes; and slower speeds generally safer for pedestrians. They reduce congestion, reduce pollution and fuel use, save money, and complement other common community values such as quieter operation and aesthetically pleasing.
Of the 25 kindergarten through sixth-grade students on the bus during the accident in the intersection on Feb. 16, 2012, 17 were injured and one was killed.
John Tieman, 66, of Beverly, was driving the school bus to Chesterfield Elementary School when it was struck in the rear driver’s side by a dump truck driven by Michael Caporale, 38, of New Egypt. The bus spun into a utility pole, killing township resident Isabelle Tezsla.
In November 2013, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced that neither driver would face criminal charges. The New Jersey State Police Commercial Vehicle Inspection Unit issued four summonses to the owner of the dump truck, Herman’s Trucking, of Wrightstown, for inadequate braking, exceeding gross weight (by 4,950 pounds), exceeding tire weight limit, and over axle weight (by 13,450 pounds). A summons for failure to stop or yield was issued by the Chesterfield Police Department to Mr. Tieman, while the New Jersey State Police Commercial Vehicle Inspection Unit issued summonses to Mr. Caporale for failure to secure container and failure to tarp load.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the crash “was the school bus driver’s failure to observe the Mack roll-off truck, which was approaching the intersection within a hazardous proximity.”
”Cognitive decrements due to fatigue as a result of acute sleep loss, chronic sleep debt, and poor sleep quality, in combination with, and exacerbated by, sedative side effects from his use of prescription medications” contributed to Mr. Tieman’s reduced vigilance, according to a synopsis provided by the board.
Mr. Caporale was driving in excess of the posted speed limit, in addition to his failure to ensure that the weight of the vehicle was within allowable operating restrictions, contributed to the severity of the crash, according to the board’s synopsis.
