Lawsuits stemming from a series of fatal bus accidents in 2007 have forced Metro to set aside $43 million for settlements in next year’s budget, the most ever.
“We had some serious accidents last year,” Metro budget director Rick Harcum said. “The money is for a combination of specific accidents that happened last year and longer-term accidents. We’ve had people who were injured years ago and who get workers’ comp forever.”
Metro’s budget for accident claims has climbed sharply over the past two years.
The agency paid $20 million for such claims between June 2006 and June 2007, but budgeted $37 million for the current year after three track workers were killed by oncoming trains in two separate accidents in 2006.
By comparison, only four other workers have been killed over the course of Metro’s 32-year history.
In January the National Transportation Safety Board found the 2006 accidents were due to worker error, but also cited Metro for failing to enforce its own safety rules.
Next year’s $43 million claims budget takes into account the possibility of settling cases in which five pedestrians were struck and killed by Metrobuses in four separate accidents last year.
A woman was fatally injured in a January accident at 16th Street and Park Road; two women were killed in a February accident at Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street Northwest; a woman was killed a week later on Congress Street Southeast; and a man was killed in December on Parklawn Drive in Montgomery County.
At least two of the accidents involved drivers striking pedestrians in crosswalks.
Over the past year, Metro General Manager John Catoe has pledged to make safety a top priority at the agency.
The NTSB earlier this year commended Catoe for launching an authoritywide safety improvement program in early 2007 that aims to instill a stronger safety culture and cut work-related injuries and accidents in half by 2011.
There have been no Metro worker or pedestrian fatalities in 2008.
