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Woman, Son Injured When Car Hit by Bus : Accident: Collision in heavy fog triggers renewed talk about high speeds on Lake Forest street.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A woman and her 14-year-old son were hospitalized Monday after a school bus collided with their car in heavy fog, sending it careening through a picket fence and concrete garden wall of a nearby house.

Residents in the Normandale Heights neighborhood where Eulalia Juarez and Omar Tellez were injured said they have complained for six years about excessive speeds on Regency Lane, where city officials recently approved a 42-home development that could increase traffic congestion.

Three students were aboard the Saddleback Valley Unified School District bus bound for Serrano Middle School when the 7:27 a.m. accident occurred, CHP Officer Kevin Scord said. None of the children were injured, and all went on to school, he said.

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The bus driver complained of minor pain in his wrist and ankle, Scord said.

According to Scord, Juarez turned her Eagle Premier left onto Regency Lane off Brighton Lane as the school bus was heading north at about 30 mph. Heavy fog reduced visibility to about 10 to 15 feet, Scord said, and when Juarez saw the bus, she stopped her car in the middle of the street.

“She panicked and stopped in front of the bus,” Scord said. “The bus slammed into her car, spun it around and it went into the picket fence and rock wall.”

Juarez was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center where she was in stable condition with injuries to her chest and abdomen, a hospital spokeswoman said. Her son was transferred to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where he was listed in fair condition with a broken leg.

The accident left a shattered fence, a pile of crushed rock and a gaping hole in the garden wall of Doug and Patti Glover’s home in the 26900 block of Brighton Lane.

No one has been cited in connection with the accident, which is under investigation.

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Juarez and Tellez live in the neighborhood, where Juarez works as a live-in baby-sitter and housekeeper, said her employer, Jody Nakashima.

“The traffic is really bad on Regency,” said Nakashima, 38, who recently addressed the City Council with concerns about traffic congestion the new housing development might cause.

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Other residents of the Normandale Heights neighborhood, who said they planned to visit Juarez and Tellez in the hospital Monday afternoon, said vehicles often speed on curving Regency Lane.

“It has been a major concern, and nobody will do anything about it,” said Candy Gelatka, who has lived in the neighborhood since it was built eight years ago. “We have been asking for speed bumps and stop signs. . . . Everyone speeds. It’s a racetrack.”

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