TTC bus driver charged in weekend crash with streetcar
Posted December 29, 2014 12:39 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A TTC bus driver has been charged with careless driving after a weekend head-on crash involving a streetcar, police say.
The bus collided with a streetcar at Danforth Avenue and Main Street shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Four people, including the male bus driver, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver’s name and age weren’t disclosed.
A commission spokesperson said he is not driving any TTC vehicles at the moment. A lengthy disciplinary process will follow, but the results won’t be made public. It’s also not known if he will remain a driver once it is concluded.
The commission said on the weekend the bus was behind a southbound streetcar when it made a left turn and struck the streetcar, which was travelling in a northbound direction.
It took two hydraulic lifts to lift the streetcar onto the tracks.
The TTC said both vehicles can be salvaged, but it will cost at least $100,000 to fix the streetcar.
The crash came just days after the commission announced it was speeding up its review on how drivers are recruited and trained after Amaria Diljohn, 14, was struck and killed by a transit bus in Scarborough on Dec. 19.
Other cases involving charges
Other TTC employees have also faced charges in recent years. This October, a TTC bus driver was charged with careless driving after a 65-year-old woman was killed at a crosswalk by a city bus in North York.
On Jan. 23, 2013, Wendy Martella, 47, was struck and killed by a TTC bus while walking home after work. Bus driver Magdalene Angelidis was charged with careless driving and failing to stop at a red traffic light. Her trial wrapped up earlier this month and a judgment was expected in February, according to the Toronto Star.
On Oct. 12, 2011, William Ainsworth, 51, was charged with criminal negligence causing death and possession of cannabis a month after Jadranka Petrova, 43, died when the bus he was driving collided with a large flatbed truck carrying a crane. The crash also injured 13 other passengers.
On May 13, 2010, bus driver Zvi Domb was charged with impaired driving after failing a field sobriety test a day earlier.
In April 2010, bus driver Bereket Hagos, 30, was charged with assault after a fare dispute with student Ricardo Jardim got physical.
With files from Cynthia Mulligan and Toronto staff
