The mother of a young boy killed in a bus collision outside a Woodbury school expressed dismay Tuesday after learning that Washington County engineers had removed warning lights and raised the school-hour speed limit on the stretch where her son was struck in 2005.
"They were put there to help the children," said Angela Eppler-Scheller of Cottage Grove, whose family lobbied hard for the safety measures after 3-year-old Wyatt died in 2005. "I was in shock and in tears when I was told they had been taken down."
But county engineers Don Theisen and Joe Gustafson said that few drivers were slowing down on Woodbury Drive next to St. Ambrose Catholic School, despite flashing lights warning of a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit (when school began and ended) on the 55 mph county road.
The engineers, both of whom expressed concern for the family, said that a major road reconstruction project completed late this fall created a safer solution — a left-turn lane to move vehicles off the main road.
"It's a different road out there than it was before," said Theisen, the county's public works director. "To be perfectly candid, that [flashing] sign didn't change drivers' behavior. It didn't slow them down. The data shows that."
Friday will be the ninth anniversary of the morning that John Scheller dropped off his daughter Sierra at the school's north entrance on Bailey Avenue, and then drove Wyatt around to the west entrance for day care.
As he was attempting to turn left off Woodbury Drive, a fast-moving school bus rear-ended their van. The nose of the bus slammed through the back seats, killing Wyatt and severely injuring his father, a police officer. No students were aboard the bus, but its driver spent three months in jail.
"It's your worst nightmare," said Eppler-Scheller, mother of five other children. "You never think it will happen to your family. It's devastating. He was a happy boy. He was going to grow up and be a police officer. He just loved life. Every day he had a smile.
