TriMet's Hansen criticizes driver, says 'clearly' April pedestrian tragedy was preventable

TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen on Tuesday unleashed his most direct criticism of the bus driver who killed two pedestrians in April, saying her failure to follow several operating rules led to the tragedy. “Had they been followed,” Hansen said, “this clearly would have been preventable.” TriMet's outgoing general manager rattled off a list of what he considers failures in judgment by driver Sandi Day – a questionable courtesy stop, the arcing illegal left turn, the higher-than-normal of speed of the turn – just before midnight April 24.

Day struck five pedestrians in a crosswalk at Northwest Broadway and Glisan Street in downtown Portland. Two -- Danielle Sale, 22, of Vancouver and Jeneé Hammel, 26, of Gresham -- died under the bus's wheels. A third person was hospitalized and the other two suffered minor injuries. Hansen's comments came during a special TriMet board meeting to review the first report from a national consultant conducting a top-to-bottom safety review after the fatal crash. In a 26-page memo, K&J Safety and Security Consulting Services of Cantonment, Fla., praised Oregon's largest transit agency for having “better than industry standards" safety programs. But the consultant also called for possible improvements. Among other things, K&J said TriMet should further restrict bus drivers' access to personal cell phones while on duty and require every bus driver to be evaluated on “observation rides” twice a year. Hansen said TriMet is considering one announced and one unannounced evaluation ride of every driver annually. “It will require negotiations” with the union, he said. The consultants also said TriMet should explore adding audible warning systems that would automatically warn pedestrians when a bus is about to make turns. Although buses in Cleveland and other cities already blare prerecorded “bus turning” messages, Hansen said research into the success of such systems is minimal. “We're looking into it,” Hansen said. “Certainly, we don't mind being on the cutting edge.” Last month, The Oregonian reported on long-running troubles with left turns on bus routes and TriMet's failure to react until after April's fatal crash. TriMet responded by quickly eliminating some stops and re-routing buses on lines with tricky left turns. The agency has also prohibited drivers from making unscheduled courtesy stops less than a block before a left turn. On Tuesday, TriMet announced the closure of two more stops. Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Mill Street (serving Lines 31, 32 and 33) was deemed too close to long-term construction, while North Lagoon and Anchor Streets (serving Line 72) is too close to a left turn, officials said.


The OregonianFred Hansen

The K&J memo is only from "phase one" of the safety review and more changes -- including the possibility of bus drivers honking before left turns -- are coming, Hansen said. TriMet officials said the employment status of Day, 48, has moved from paid administrative leave to worker's compensation as they await the release of the official Portland police report. They declined to say why Day has applied for worker's comp. A Multnomah County grand jury cleared Day of criminal wrongdoingbut she was cited for six traffic violations, including careless driving with vulnerable road users, making an illegal left turn and failing to yield to pedestrians. Hansen, who steps down after more than 11 years heading TriMet on June 30, said Day won't be allowed to drive a bus until officials receive the final Portland police crash report, expected in the next few weeks. The agency will then conduct its own investigation, he said. Even if her job survives the TriMet review, Day could lose her commercial driver's license if convicted of the traffic violations. Until Tuesday, Hansen had refrained from criticizing Day. Although his comments were far from scathing, they were to the point. Based on information released by authorities so far, Hansen said it was obvious that Day was going up to three times faster than the 5 mph that bus driver's are allowed to take turns. Hansen also questioned Day's decision to make the courtesy stop on Glisan Street's north curb, less than 20 feet from where she needed to make the left turn onto Broadway. The location required Day to illegally sweep across two lanes in a very short distance to make the turn. A better choice, Hansen said, would have been to make a proper turn and then the courtesy stop on southbound Broadway. He also doesn't understand how she didn't see five people in the crosswalk. As the bus moved past Harvey's comedy club on Glisan, where the five victims were among hundreds of people leaving a show, Day should have “put her antennae up” to be extra cautious of pedestrians, Hansen said. “I can't explain,” he said, “why that didn't happen in this case.” -- Joseph Rose