TriMet driver cleared of criminal wrongdoing

You’ll remember the story about the TriMet bus driver who ran over five pedestrians in a crosswalk, resulting in the deaths of two of them. It happened in late April in downtown Portland, OR. The driver was making a left turn. A grand jury today found the driver not guilty of criminal wrongdoing, but she may face misdemeanor charges, including charges for careless driving and making an illegal left turn.

The grand jury heard testimony from the bus driver, Sandi Day, and more than twenty eyewitnesses. The pedestrians were crossing the street legally in a crosswalk with a walk signal. The bus driver had a green light. There is speculation that the driver entered the left turn from across two lanes, and that may have affected her line of sight. Left turns by buses have been found to pose dangers to pedestrians, and many transit agencies across the nation have adopted safety measures to deal with the issue, including eliminating left turns on bus routes or requiring drivers to honk before entering a left turn. TriMet has eliminated left turns from several downtown bus routes and is considering other safety options.

For more information on this story, see this article from the Oregonian.

This was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 and is filed in the Legal, Public Safety categories.