The woman who was cited for careless driving last week after striking a 15-year-old Pioneer High School student was driving with a partially frosted-over windshield, according to a traffic accident report.
The traffic crash report, obtained by AnnArbor.com Tuesday afternoon, indicated the 46-year-old Ann Arbor woman told police she did not see the red flashing lights on the school bus. The bus had stopped at the corner of Shadowood Drive and Hardyke Court to pick up students, police said.
The bus driver told police he stopped and turned on the red flashing lights on the school bus, indicating drivers must stop for pedestrians, the report stated. The driver told police he saw a red vehicle drive around the bus after the lights had been turned on and strike the 15-year-old girl.
According to the report, the woman told police she went around the stopped school bus and she didn’t see the red flashing lights or the girl. Officer Trudy Sahr, the officer who responded to the scene, wrote she noticed the front windshield of the car was partially frosted over.
“I noticed her windows were frosted over,” Sahr wrote in the report. “I asked her if her front windshield was clear or was it frosted over. She stated it was frosted over some.”
A witness told Sahr she was standing on the east side of Shadowood and saw the school bus stop and activate the red flashing lights on the vehicle. The woman said it appeared the driver of the red vehicle did not see the 15-year-old girl as she passed the bus.
The Ann Arbor woman was cited for careless driving at the scene of the crash. The investigation is closed.
The 15-year-old girl was transported to the University of Michigan Hospital with a large bump on her head. Her injuries were not life threatening, police said.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.