Halifax council wants staff to take an in depth look into collisions involving transit buses in HRM, just two weeks after a tragic death.
Councillor Kathryn Morse put forward the motion Tuesday who says it was triggered after a 24-year-old woman died when hit by a bus on the corner of Spring Garden Rd and South Park Street on Halloween.
“We’ve had a number of other transit related collisions in the last few months, and I thought it would be timely given we have a new council, to establish a bit of a baseline.”
Morse adds, she asks for the report for background, going forward.
The motion was backed by Councillor Sean Cleary who says he’s looked through all the news releases regarding these types of collisions and there were seven in the last six years or so.
“It seems the vast majority of [the collisions] have happened in the last year and a half. I’m not sure why and the report hopefully will speak to that…but certainly that is seven too many, for the seven that I counted. I believe the only fatality was the one recently, but again, one too many.”
Cleary adds, hopefully there are things to be learned.
“Maybe our buses have blind spots. Maybe our drivers need different training. Maybe the patterns are related to the actual roadways and the type of intersection or mid-block. Maybe the markings on the road play into this, which we could all look at.”
The motion passed unanimously.