Saskatoon Transit bus collides with school bus, crashes into tree outside daycare | CBC News (2024)

Liam O'Connor, Alexander Quon · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 26, 2023 6:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 27, 2023

Nearby residents say anintersection where a Saskatoon city bus and a school bus, both of which had passengers, collided on Thursday afternoon has been a worry for some time.

The crash happened at the intersection of Hazen Streetand Alexandra Avenue, the Saskatoon Police Servicesaid in a news release issued just before 4:30 p.m. CST Thursday.

Jeff Dyer was at work when a co-worker told him a bus had crashed in his neighbourhood. When hechecked his security camera, he discoveredthe crash happened across the street from his home.

The footage, which Dyer shared with CBC, appears to show the school busmakinga complete stop at the intersection. It then drivesforward on HazenStreet before the collision with the city bus, which was travelling northwest onAlexandra Avenue.

WATCH|Saskatoon school bus collides with a Transit bus at a busy intersection:

The collision resulted in the city bus crashing into a tree on the property of a home that runs a daycare.

Dyer said the intersection would benefit from a larger stop sign.

"I think a lot of people use this route just to get through the neighbourhood, and they do that quickly," he said.

"There's a lot of rolling stops at this stop sign, and sometimes no stops at all."

Kalem Edlund said his partner runs the daycare at the intersection, which had kids in the basem*nt at the time of the crash. Edlund said the largetree in his front yard most likelysaved the home from being hit by the bus.

"We've seen near-collisions happen at this intersection multiple times," he said. "We get a lot of, I guess,honking — we're hearing from peoplealmost hitting people because the signage, we feel, is not clear enough."

Edlundsaid they havewritten multiple letters to the cityabout the intersection.

"They keep telling us that the collision rate is not high enough, so they're not going to make that change," said Edlund.

The city confirmed in an email that residents from North Park-Richmond Heights neighbourhood raised concerns about the intersection back in 2018. As a result, the city installed a "stop ahead" sign before the stop sign on Hazen Street.

The city completed a review of the intersectionin 2022 using collision data from 2017 to 2021. It showed there was "one right-angle collision reported that would be susceptible to correction by an all-way stop."

The city also studied traffic volumes during peak hours, but determined a four-way stop was not warranted.

"During the observation periods, pedestrians safely crossed the street during gaps in traffic or when vehicles stopped for them.No conflicts were observed," stated an email from the city outlining the review.

"Based on the review, an all-way stop is not recommended.The existing two-way stop control is providing adequate control."

A news release sent from the City of Saskatoon on Thursday nightsaidSaskatoon Transit is co-operatingwith the police investigation.

It said the driver was takento hospital with a shoulder injury, but there were nofurther reports to Saskatoon Transit of any other injuries.

The city saidSaskatoon Transit will conduct an internal investigation, "asis the practice anytime a Transit bus is involved in a traffic incident."

Policeconfirmed the students on the bus are not fromSaskatoon Public Schools, but said no details onpotential injuries were immediately available.

Policeput traffic restrictions in place following the collision and asked residents to find an alternativeroute through the area.

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