School bus crash among multiple accidents

Authorities are asking people to use extra caution when driving for the next couple of days.

The request comes on the heels of a slew of accidents that pockmarked the traffic landscape early Friday morning that could be attributed to icy conditions and snow filled slippery streets.

The worst seemed to be a school bus crash just before 8 a.m. at Algonquin and Dempster roads in Mount Prospect, officials said.

Betsy Boswell, public information coordinator for Community Consolidated School District 59, said the bus was heading to Holmes Junior High School at 1900 W. Lonnquist Road in Mount Prospect when a chain-reaction crash happened behind it.

She said multiple cars were sitting behind the bus at the intersection when the end car was hit from behind. The cars in the line lurched forward until the final car was pushed under the bus.

She said 11 students were on the bus when the accident happened, but none of the students were injured.

“All of them have been checked out by the school nurse when they arrived at school,” she said. “There was no damage to the bus and it was drivable after the accident.”

She added safety of students is the number one priority for school officials, and that “this was just one of those unfortunate accidents that sometimes happens.”

Cmdr. John Wagner of the Mount Prospect Police Department said two motorists were transported from the scene to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights with nonlife threatening injuries.

He said the intersection was closed for about an hour while the crash was cleaned up.

“It's the same recommendation that we have been issuing, which is people should just slow down because of all the snow and ice that remains on the roadways,” he said. “We are hopeful that by Monday, everything will be back to normal. But, for right now, give yourselves extra time and slow down.”

The Mount Prospect crash was just one of a dozen or more Friday morning blamed on icy and snowy conditions.

Accidents were reported on main roads in Island Lake, Elk Grove Village, Des Plaines and Elgin, officials said.

Traffic was also backed up in all directions at Route 53 and North Avenue in Lombard where witnesses said a traffic light had broken loose over eastbound North Avenue.

Officials also said roadway snow is still causing some delays throughout the Chicago area.

Snow in the road has been reported at Route 83 and Route 72 in Elk Grove Village, Palatine Road and Milwaukee Avenue in Prospect Heights, as well as Route 72 near Genoa and Route 47.

Snow was also reported on the pavement at Algonquin and Dempster, but Wagner said the snow was a result of the crash, not a cause of the crash.