MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Madison transit officials said a bus driver did not perform a routine physical maneuver to overcome a blind spot, when the bus struck and killed a UW librarian last year.
58-year-old Maureen Grant of New Glarus died last June, as the bus was turning left and struck Grant in a crosswalk.
Madison Metro general manager Chuck Kamp said Grant was in the bus’s blind spot when she started crossing – and she stayed in the blind spot until a fraction of a second before she was hit near the middle of the crosswalk.
The bus driver, Debra Foster, was ticketed for not yielding to a pedestrian.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne did not file criminal charges due to the blind spot. Foster was put on paid leave for 3 days, and then used her accumulated time off before going on an unpaid layoff.
Kamp said she has not been fired, but it’s not known if or when she would return.
Meanwhile, he said Madison’s buses have had their driver’s side mirrors re-mounted to reduce the blind spots. And officials are thinking about using audio signals to let pedestrians know when a bus is about to make a left turn.
