Metro Transit driver charged after woman hit in crosswalk

A Metro Transit bus driver has been charged after his bus struck a 60-year-old woman crossing the street in downtown Halifax on Monday morning.

Halifax Regional Police said the woman was walking in a marked crosswalk where Spring Garden Road meets Barrington Street around 6:55 a.m. when she was hit.

The woman was taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The 62-year-old driver was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

8 pedestrian-bus collisions in 2013

Janet Bryson, a spokeswoman with the Halifax Regional Municipality, said Monday's incident was the eighth pedestrian-bus collision so far this year. Four of those eight incidences happened in a crosswalk, three drivers were charged.

In 2012, there were also eight bus-pedestrian collisions in the municipality. One happened at a marked crossing, resulting in charges against the bus driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

There were also eight collisions between Metro Transit buses and pedestrians in 2011. Four of those incidences happened at a crosswalk.

Bryson said Metro Transit takes all collisions very seriously. She said an internal investigation is being conducted in this latest case.

"As you can imagine, this type of incident is one all bus operators work hard to avoid and hope never happens," Bryson said in an email. 

"Metro Transit reinforces safe driving practices, particularly related to pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists during the six-week bus operator training course and through continuous training opportunities."