Center Street School Bus Accident in Apex

A Wake County school bus was hit by an auto on November 16, 2009, around 7:15 AM. Apex Police and Fire personnel quickly arrived to manage the incident and take care of the injured but the event didn't get any coverage by area news media.

An EMS team carried the auto driver away and the bus passengers were offloaded onto another school bus. It appeared the auto driver was the only person injured.

These State DOT provided traffic lights were replaced in 2009 but the intersection has only one left turn light (seen in photo) to control traffic turning left (east) from Mason Street onto Center Street. There are no turn lights for traffic turning onto Mason Street in either direction on Center Street or from South Mason Street turning west onto Center Street. This school bus accident could likely have been prevented had the Town of Apex and State of NC installed the missing turn lights to make the intersection safer. It's likely this was another cost saving plan implemented at the expense of driver's safety when the lights were upgraded this year. It is unfortunate the Town of Apex always responds that Center Street (and others like Salem Street) is owned by NC DOT and that Apex is not responsible for maintenance or concerns along the road.

There are many Apex intersections like this where short cuts have been taken at the expense of driver safety by omitting some of the turn light signals. To name a few intersections - Center and Mason, Hunter and Peakway, Hughes and NC55.

As always, you can make a difference by asking your Apex Town Manager and Town Council Members to address these issues.

It's always interesting when events like school bus accidents get wide coverage on TV news and in the paper except when they happen in Apex.