Archives

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Now facing five years in prison if convicted (http://blog.taragana.com/n/ohio-bus-driver-was-using-cell-at-time-of-fatal-accident-in-cleveland-133746/)

http://www.youtube.com/v/9VHYZCHO57E&hl=en&fs=1&TARAGANA (http://blog.taragana.com) - Aug 7, 2009

Most of the 40,000 Americans killed on the highways annually are due to senseless negligence like this....do we just let it continue? --Ed.

Cleveland — An Ohio bus driver who had been fired and reinstated after an earlier accident was on her cell phone when her bus struck and killed a pedestrian in March, according to investigators.

Angela Williams, 49, of Cleveland, was indicted Thursday on a felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide. If convicted, she could get up to five years in prison in the death of Patrick Merrill, 59, of suburban Berea.

He was struck in a crosswalk while the bus was making a left turn. It was the second fatal bus accident involving a pedestrian in a crosswalk in seven months in Cleveland.... http://blog.taragana.com/n/ohio-bus-driver-was-using-cell-at-time-of-fatal-accident-in-cleveland-133746/

Note: Seems the reinstatement was from this bus driver hitting a pedestrian in 2006 - not the one she killed in March. (see RTA Driver In Fatal Crash Struck Pedestrian Before (http://www.newsnet5.com/news/19023914/detail.html) ..."According to numbers released by the RTA in the last six years, there have been 133 reported accidents between buses and pedestrians." :eek: )

My 2 cents: This happened earlier in San Antonio and other places - why don't transit authorities make it clear using a cell phone while driving a bus will result in termination?



__________________________________


I'm going to bring in the unions into this discussion.
2006 - Ms Williams strikes a pedestrian with minor injuries, gets fired
2006 - Ms Williams reinstated
2009 - Ms Williams strikes another pedestrian - dies later
2009 - Ms Williams fired, charges pending.
This is a problem I have with unions - protecting it's members under any circumstances. My take on unions is to make sure it's members are fairly treated as long as they are doing their job. Instead, the union assumes all their members are always doing their job regardless...the RTA under union pressure does a bandaid and makes more rules for all bus drivers. The best policy would be to simply stress all drivers be sober, focused, etc on the job and expect dismissal if found negligent. BTW, charges will follow. Unions should not defend members that clearly were not doing their job.

Someone in Cleveland commented to a TV station if it was OK to sue the union for reinstating Ms Williams. It should be.

This is one of GM's problems - the UAW won benefits that were unsustainable and many of those members are now out of the autoindustry. :(

Was the driver on the phone in the first incident? I haven't seen anything that says that the bus driver was on the phone the first time around. From the link that Chuck provided it says that the first pedestrian was not using a crosswalk and therefore unavoidable. (Personally I disagree with that reason alone.) But, without knowing the whole story from the first incident I am hesitant to blame the union or the arbitrator for her reinstatement.

Chuck, I do agree that unions can go a little overboard with protecting their members. I say that as a teamster too.

It was not clear if a phone was involved in the 2006 incident.

Something is wrong with the system.

The second incident happened in March and only now are the phone records out that indicate the bus driver was on the phone just before it happened.

The family of Patrick Merrill would like to thank the Cleveland police investigation unit and the prosecutors for their patience and persistence in the matter of the death of our brother.,wiped of the map needlessly as a result of someone else,s pure negligence.We think the entire nation needs some cell phone detox.

It was not clear if a phone was involved in the 2006 incident.

Something is wrong with the system.

The second incident happened in March and only now are the phone records out that indicate the bus driver was on the phone just before it happened.

I must have skipped right over the march part.