Fatal Accidents
Prior to 2004, MTD never had an accident involving a fatality. Since 2004, there have been two fatal accidents involving pedestrians and MTD buses. Both cases involved University of Illinois students on campus:
- October 27, 2004: Carolyn B. Jeffers, a pedestrian, was struck and killed by a 26 Pack bus at the intersection of S Goodwin Ave and Gregory Dr, Urbana.
- September 29, 2005: Sarah Channick, a pedestrian, was struck and killed by a 22 Illini bus at the intersection of S 6th St and E Chalmers St, Champaign. The Channick family sued MTD; the lawsuit was eventually settled for $1.25 million.
After Channick's death, the governments of Champaign and Urbana, the University of Illinois, and MTD conducted the Campus Area Transportation Study (commonly referred to as "CATS"), which made specific recommendations to improve bus safety on campus. As of December 2011, two of three proposed phases have been implemented.
Read more about this topic: Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District
Famous quotes containing the words fatal and/or accidents:
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Depression moods lead, almost invariably, to accidents. But, when they occur, our mood changes again, since the accident shows we can draw the world in our wake, and that we still retain some degree of power even when our spirits are low. A series of accidents creates a positively light-hearted state, out of consideration for this strange power.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)