Dubuque woman involved in crash with Springville school bus dies

SPRINGVILLE - The Dubuque woman involved in a crash with a school bus on Monday has died, authorities said.

The Linn County Sheriff's Office confirmed Thursday morning that 26-year-old Molly Zelinskas has died from the injuries she sustained when the car she was driving rear-ended a Springville Community School District bus. Online obituaries indicate Zelinskas died Tuesday.

Authorities said Zelinskas was eastbound on Dubuque Road - which is Highway 151 - around 3:41 p.m. Monday when she collided with the bus just east of Stone Road. The bus had been stopped to let off a student, according to the sheriff's office. The bus had it's emergency lights activated and stop sign extended.

Zelinskas had to be extricated and was taken to St. Luke's Hospital. One of six students on the bus was taken to Mercy Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The other five students and the bus driver, 42-year-old Cary Nelson, of Springville, were uninjured.

The crash remains under investigation by the sheriff's office and Linn County Police Department.

Pat Hocking, superintendent of the Springville school district, said he is taking a look at the district's procedures as they apply to dropping off students who live along the four-lane highway. He said he has been assured by the Iowa Department of Education that doing so is an acceptable practice, but he wonders if there are ways to change or improve the process.

'I met with the bus drivers and we've started a discussion,” said Hocking, who also serves as superintendent of the Lisbon Community School District. 'We're not going to have a knee-jerk reaction and do something sudden. We'll plan to have some follow-up meetings.”

Hocking said he has reached out to a variety of other school districts, some that drop off students along highways and some that do not.

He has engaged in discussion about possibly using school vans, rather than buses, to transport students who live along the highway, and he's also looked into the possibility of installing 'bright strobe lights” on the fronts and backs of buses.

'We're very much looking at putting those on,” he said, noting the three route buses in each of the districts he oversees would be first to get those lights. 'They would be similar to the lights you saw last winter on the fronts and backs of snowplows. I'm not saying that would prevent any future incidents, but it's another step in safety,” he said.

Hocking said he joined Nelson on her bus route the day after the crash. He added the hospitalized student is back to school and doing fine.

He hopes any changes that might be made are seen as positive steps forward.

'Just having the conversation, maybe it's something that benefits us all,” he said.