Minimal information was provided after a school bus reportedly struck an elderly pedestrian near Yonge Street and Silverwood Ave in Toronto on November 5, 2024. Because the school bus left the collision site it would seem consistent that an outrage would ensue and the collision would be reported as a purposeful “hit and run” collision. Such hit and runs are frequently reported in other major collisions long before any meaningful understanding has been developed as to what might have happened. News media reported that the school bus driver “fled the scene” but investigators eventually found the driver, but their name has not been released and no charges have been laid while the investigation is on-going.
Few in the public domain have any access to the details of a collision investigation and often informed judgments are made simply because the event is disturbing and something must be said regardless. In this confused realm the truly innocent are rolled up with the truly guilty as often what matters are the consequences rather than the actual actions of the accused.
Overhead views of the collision site provided by news media indicate that the present collision occurred at an intersection and this leads to a common concern that visibility issues might have been causal factors in the incident.
There is also an issue that, a contact made between a massive bus and the pedestrian, may not be detected by a school bus driver and therefore a driver might continue driving not recognizing that a collision occurred. Not only is such a result possible in school bus collisions but it may occur in any collision between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian or cyclist.
The Gorski Consulting website contains a number of articles dealing with visibility issues, and some specifically dealing with visibility challenges in school buses. In an article posted on February 17, 2023 (“School Bus Visibility Obstruction Could Kill You“) we discussed the details of how pedestrian’s presence could be masked from a bus driver’s view during a left turn at an urban intersection. This article provided specific measurements and the obstructions provided by the mirrors and roof pillars of a school bus and also provided a motion analysis between a bus and a walking pedestrian.
In another article posted to the Gorski Consulting website on February 15, 2024 (“Left-Turning School Bus Causes Pedestrian Fatality in St Thomas Ontario“) we also provided comments about the blind-spots existing on van-based school buses and how these could lead to impacts with a pedestrian at an intersection.
Regrettably important details about how school bus collisions might be affected by visibility issues are never drawn the public’s attention. Many parents, school personnel and school officials do not know about these details and therefore are unable to pass on such important information to school children or to pedestrian’s in general.
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