D.C. woman, 47, dies after being hit by Metrobus
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
October 7, 2009
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| Stephanie Richardson (Family photo) |
A woman died Tuesday less than a day after she was struck by a Metrobus, the latest fatality in an already deadly year for the transit agency that has now lost 14 people to accidents, plus seven to suicides.
Stephanie Richardson, 47, was just blocks away from her Northeast D.C. home when she got off a Metrobus around 6:30 p.m. Monday on Mount Olivet Road, between Trinidad and Montello avenues, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police said.
She walked in front of the stopped D8 bus to cross the street, according to Metro and police. A bus running on the same line, traveling in the same direction, struck her as she entered the street, according to the transit agency.
Richardson was taken to Washington Hospital Center but was pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday, police said.
No one had been charged as of Tuesday evening, police said. The case remains under investigation.
The bus driver was placed on paid leave and tested for drugs and alcohol, as is standard after any accident. He has been driving a Metrobus since March 2008, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.
The death renewed Metro's push for safety, according to the agency. It has reissued a safety bulletin to all bus drivers that is attached to their daily driving schedules.
"One accident is one too many," Metro Deputy General Manager Gerald Francis said in a statement. "Once our investigation is complete, we will incorporate what we learn into our safety and training programs to help prevent future accidents."
Although the transit agency has had a deadly year on its rail system, this was the first fatal bus crash for the agency since September 2008. In that case, a California man was killed after the taxi he was riding in was struck. That bus driver was fired.
More recently, another bus driver was fired after her bus struck a jogger in Northwest D.C. on Sept. 3, leaving the 30-year-old runner with critical injuries.
"Accidents profoundly affect us all," the agency's largest union said in a statement Tuesday. "Local 689, representing some 10,000 active and retired transit workers, views safety for our members and the public we serve as our number one priority."
Pedestrian accidents have been a long-standing problem for Metro. After a spate of deaths, Metro installed warning strobe lights on 100 buses in the District in 2007.
But the problem also goes beyond Metro. The District has a higher rate of pedestrian fatalities than cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, according to a D.C. Department of Transportation report. More than 600 pedestrians are typically hit by vehicles of all types in the city annually, with more than a dozen killed nearly every year.
