DARTS bus driver is Hamilton’s 10th pedestrian fatality of 2022: police

Hamilton police say the city's 10th pedestrian fatality of the year is a 49-year-old DARTS bus driver.

In a press release Friday morning, police said the Hamilton woman was getting ready to pick up a passenger in the area of Main Street West and Locke Street South just after 2 p.m. Thursday.

At that time, a 75-year-old woman driving a 2012 Honda Civic was headed eastbound on Main approaching Locke.

Police said the driver then left the roadway, colliding with a building and hitting the bus driver as she was exiting her vehicle.

The DARTS driver was transported to hospital without vital signs and later died of her injuries, while the Civic driver was uninjured.

Police said the 75-year-old was arrested at the scene and was later released pending further investigation. She was not impaired at the time of the crash, according to police.

A heavily damaged, black, four-door sedan was visible at the scene Thursday afternoon. One of its wheels had been ripped off and its front bumper was severely mangled.

A DARTS transit bus with a torn-off door was at the side of the road near the sedan, and the brickwork on a nearby porch also appeared to have been damaged.

A witness to the crash told The Spectator that traffic on the street was slowing when a woman driving a black Civic pinballed" between lanes, accelerated and trucked over the sidewalk, eventually colliding with a front porch, several poles and the DARTS van.

Everyone was slowing down," said Richard Newsome, who saw the collision while walking his dog, Buddy. She just kept accelerating and accelerating, rolling through like a tornado."

The collision reconstruction unit has taken over the investigation.

There have been 10 pedestrian deaths in Hamilton so far this year, including one involving a forklift at a workplace, making 2022 the worst year for pedestrian deaths in the city in a decade and already eclipsing 2021's death toll of nine.

Anyone with information regarding Thursday's crash is asked to contact Det. Const. Steve Cruickshanks by calling 905-546-4755.

To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit tips online at crimestoppershamilton.com.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com