MCTS leaders respond to deadly crashes involving buses

Denise Wandke (credit: CBS 58)

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) leaders are praising two bus drivers for their actions taken during two separate crashes. 

In both cases, police say cars crashed into the buses. 

The first happened Thursday, April 18, at the intersection of 35th and Capitol Drive. 

One person was killed and five others were hurt. 

Then on Saturday, April 20 one person was killed near 35th and Wisconsin. 

MCTS officials have called reckless driving an epidemic and are urging people to slow down on the road. 

"Moving forward, we just have to continue to get the message out there that green doesn't necessarily mean go. We really have to take a pause like anybody else in an automobile," said Denise Wandke, president and managing director for MCTS. 

MCTS reports during the first three full months of the year, the number of cars crashing into buses has increased more than 40%. 

Officials also say over this past weekend, reckless driving costs Milwaukee County more than $2 million in replacement costs.