Most polled don’t think TTC driver should have been fired for running red light

The majority of people polled by Forum Research don’t believe the TTC bus driver who was caught on video running a red light last month should have been fired.

Sixty-six per cent said she should have been penalized, but not let go, according to the poll commissioned by the TTC union on Thursday.

Fifty-six per cent voted in favour of the single mother of two being suspended and reassigned to a non-driving job.

Only 19 per cent said she should have been canned.

In the video, the bus is seen speeding through a red light, veering to narrowly avoid a pedestrian who began crossing at Eglinton Avenue East and Ionview Road in Scarborough.

The driver later wrote an apology letter, saying she didn’t intentionally run the red light.

She claimed she didn’t notice the light had turned red until it was too late to stop.

“These results reflect what we have been hearing from the public all week,” Bob Kinnear, president of the transit workers’ union said in a release Friday.

“Our front line people have been deluged with comments from TTC riders that they thought the firing was too harsh.

“Yes, she made a serious mistake and yes, some kind of penalty is appropriate. But the circumstances of the incident – it was a confusing situation, triggered by someone sitting at a bus stop but who waved her on – and the fact that no one was injured, either on the street or on the bus, make this less than a firing offence.”

The driver had only been on the job a few months and was still in the probation period, meaning she couldn’t grieve her dismissal with the union.