EngineerScotty
C-TRAN agrees to pay $2M to the family of a boy killed in a collision with a C-TRAN bus.
August 31, 2015 at 4:55 pm
Link
A key piece of evidence in the case was a memo from the Vancouver police department which spoke of “professional courtesy” towards C-TRAN drivers; the boy’s family alleged that the police routinely declined to cite public employees for moving violations, and that the police report in the case in question (which largely exonerated the driver–the boy was struck while riding in the bike lane through an intersection, albeit in the wrong direction) was unreliable due to such courtesy. (A similar allegation was raised nearly a decade ago in Beaverton when a TriMet bus pulling into a stop on Farmington sideswiped and killed a bicyclist; the police report there also blamed the cyclist, although further review suggests he was legally traveling in the bike lane).
Anecdotal evidence–but a quarter century ago, when I was still in college (and young and handsome :P), I was riding back to Portland with a friend when her car broke down. We called for a tow (fortunately I was covered by my parents’ AAA) and rode back to Portland in the cab of the tow truck, which was booking down I-205 at about 75MPH the whole way. I asked the tow truck driver if he was worried about a ticket–no, he informed me; cops never ticket tow truck drivers; and if they did, the police would have a nice long wait next time they n