CINCINNATI — The driver of a Metro bus who hit and killed an 87-year-old woman in Hyde Park was involved in previous crashes while employed by Metro, according to the driver's personnel file.
Beverly Joanne Kinney, 87, was crossing Duck Creek Road at Dana Avenue in a marked crosswalk with the walk signal on around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 when the Metro driver made a right turn and "failed to yield," hitting her, according to the crash report.
Kinney was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The Metro driver "was found to be operating with a suspended driver's license status," the crash report says.
Court records show the driver had other traffic violations going back 20 years. Many of the charges were dismissed or ignored, but there were prior tickets for driving with a suspended license in 1999 and for driving without a license in 2008.
Brandy Jones, senior vice president of external affairs for Metro said on Jan. 17 that a third-party company's report sent to Metro determined the driver's license was valid as of Jan. 4. The crash happened on Jan. 11.
"Metro has a two-step process to monitor driver's license status," reads Jones' statement. "First, employees are required to self-report when there is a change in their driver's license status. Second, we work with a national third-party vendor who regularly provides us with employee license data from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles."
Jones said Tuesday the driver is still on leave and the investigations into the crash — by both police and Metro internally — are still ongoing.
Previous incidents involving the same Metro driver
According to the driver's personnel file, they were involved in three other crashes since they were hired by Metro in February of 2018.
For each of those incidents, the driver was issued a written warning in their personnel file. The driver was also documented for other safety violations that did not result in a crash.
On December 1, 2018, the driver was involved in a crash at the intersection of Winchell Avenue and Findlay Street in the West End. During that crash, reports filed say the driver ran a red light and hit a vehicle at around 1 a.m. while en route back to the bus garage.
The driver of the vehicle hit in the crash was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but neither their condition nor the extent of their injuries were noted in the reports.
None of the reports included in the personnel file are from Cincinnati police and court records do not show any citations filed against the driver for that Dec. 1, 2018 crash.
"In regards to the incident involving the operator in 2018," said Jones. "Following a very extensive investigation, it was determined that the police decided not to cite him for the accident and it was his first preventable accident during his time at Metro. So after his investigation and he return from leave, he did undergo a robust, comprehensive driver refresher training before he was placed back into service."
On December 10, 2019, a Metro rider reported the same driver nearly hit them as they crossed the street on their way to the bus stop at Glenway and Heuwerth in West Price Hill.
"Customer states that she and her son were crossing the street to catch the bus, they were almost hit by the bus," reads the report filed. "It then took off without them."
The investigation notes say the complaint was valid.
"Corrective action will be taken," reads the notes. "We apologize for the inconvenience."
On September 12, 2020, an incident report in the personnel file says another crash happened near Hughes High School, at McMillan and West Clifton. During that crash, the Metro bus driver and a Chevy Tahoe collided, damaging a mirror.
A SORTA report says the crash happened at around 10:25 p.m. that evening.
"Vehicle 1 no damage, vehicle 2 damage to passenger side mirror, operator of vehicle 2 says bus hit them, no injuries," reads the comment section on the form.
A second form, listed as the "operator's report," contains the Metro driver's side of the crash.
"Heading east on McMillan when a white Chevy Tahoe hits my driver side mirror and brakes, we only was going about 2 mph," reads the "full and detailed account of the accident" listed on the second form.
On July 27, 2022, at around 4:25 p.m., the Metro driver was involved in a crash at Central Parkway and the Western Hills Viaduct. According to the reports, the Metro driver was attempting to turn left from Central onto the Viaduct and they made the turn too wide, hitting a vehicle in the other turn lane.
"If [REDACTED] would have made the swing on the left turn wider, it would have prevented the rear of the coach from tracking outside of the designated lane of travel and striking the vehicle," reads the report.
Still, Jones said Metro overall has a very strong track record, with very few incidents compared with how many miles are driven by Metro operators in a year.
"When you compare us against our peer systems, peer transit systems, you will find that we have a very excellent safety record," said Jones. "When you think about, in terms of preventable accidents involving pedestrians, over the past five years there has been three recorded, preventable accidents. So that average is about every 90 million miles driven."
Disciplinary actions taken by Metro
Overall, it appears the Metro driver was written up for each offense. In the personnel file, two forms were filed for a "preventable or unreported accident," though it does not appear one of those same forms was included for the September 2020 crash.
Of the two forms that appear in the personnel file, one cites a December 1 offense, though it's difficult to tell if the year is 2018 or 2019; a manager signed and dated the form on June 17, 2019.
The second form cites a September 27, 2022 offense and was signed and dated by a manager on August 8, 2022.
A form filled out on December 10, 2019 shows the driver was issued a "1st written warning" for a safety violation for the customer report filed, but no other "corrective action" was noted in the personnel file.
The "preventable or unreported accident" form has space on it for a first written warning, a second written warning that comes with a mandated defensive driving class, a one-day suspension, and a third "and final" written warning that comes with road training and a five-day suspension.
For each of the forms tied to crashes involving the Metro driver, only the "1st written warning" line was ever filled out.
Jones said that's because their disciplinary structure doesn't consider it a second or third offense unless it happens within 12 months of the initial offense.
"So, part of our policy whenever there is a preventable accident on the first offense, you know, an operator would receive a written warning," said Jones. "On the second offense, if it is within 12 months then that would result in a suspension. But as I mentioned before, each incident is treated on a case-by-case basis. We make sure that we are taking all factors into consideration."
During training, the driver had issues with turns, was "very easily distracted"
As the driver underwent training with Metro in their first month, several instructors and personnel noted similar trends in the driver's progress.
The driver's ability to manage turns without swinging the bus too wide and the driver's distractable nature were noted multiple times during training by more than one instructor.
"Need to work on turns and staying in mirrors," reads one instructor's notes from March 12, 2018. "And stop talking so much."
On several Trainee Progress Reports filed by different instructors beginning in April, the driver had a great attitude, but struggled with uses of mirrors, foresight and turning. Nearly all of them describe him as willing to learn and professional.
"While his personality is 'hyper' and his constant chatter irritating, I observed no actions that would warrant removing him from the candidacy of the position of coach operator," reads one instructor's comments.
Another instructor, in a progress report from April 8, 2018, said the driver struggled with turns and stayed too close to vehicles parked on the right of the roadway.
"He's not a multitasker and gets distracted easy," reads the instructor's notes. "He doesn't focus on the task at hand (while I'm driving, he will have so much to say about nothing)."
However, when the driver was the one behind the wheel of the coach, they missed stops, the instructor wrote.
"He passed up two passengers," reads the instructor's comments. "When I told him he was passing two passengers, he slammed on the brakes then moved so close right he almost hit a car. I asked if he seen the passengers, he said 'I was focused on the bend, I got tunnel vision.' That raised a huge concern, just knowing the type of people we deal with on the regular, some will charge out to the bus if they feel like we are going to pass them by."
Another instructor said the Metro driver "does not multitask very well, does not stay focused, very easily distracted."
Jones said drivers typically go through around eight weeks of training before they take on a route and there are refresher training courses Metro operators participate in too.
"All of our operators receive very robust training and refresher training throughout, so if someone has been here even 40 years — we have drivers who have been here for 40 years — they are also put back through refresher training on a very regular basis," said Jones.
She said the refresher training is offered annually, but there are different trainings available at different times.
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