Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 15/00) - A five-year-old girl was hit by a bus Tuesday on her way to Ecole St. Joseph for kindergarten.
"I was scared," Hanna Latour said. "I was walking on the road, when I got to the other side the bus bumped me."
Hanna and three friends had just crossed Woolgar Ave. and were walking on the street when a city bus coming off Byrne Rd. took a wide left turn and clipped her and knocked her down.
The glancing blow knocked the wind out of the child, but she was able to walk away.
Hanna said that Bic Sever, the Cardinal Coachlines driver, offered to take her to the hospital, but she declined and went home.
Hanna's mother, Rebecca Latour, said her daughter stood at the doorway crying and full of snow.
"I just couldn't believe it when her friend told me she got hit by a bus and there she was standing," said Latour.
"I felt relief."
Troy Bowden, Cardinal's area manager, blamed darkness, ice fog and cars parked on the side of the road for the accident.
"I'm happy it was minor," said Bowden.
RCMP are investigating but declined to say if charges will be laid against Sever, a driver with 15 years experience.
Bowden held a staff meeting Thursday and said the company is conducting an internal investigation.
"You can never stress enough, it's pitch black, there's ice fog and kids are bundled up, you can never be too careful," he said.
Latour said the accident should serve as a warning and blames the city for not having sidewalks along the street for children who walk to school.
"There are no sidewalks, no safe places to be a pedestrian on Woolgar," said Latour who doesn't blame the bus driver for the accident.
Her daughter agrees.
"They should make a big sidewalk so the bus can't get on it," said Hanna.
Yellowknife Catholic School Board superintendent Kern Von Hagen said his board had to lobby to get a crosswalk on Range Lake Rd. across from Ecole St. Joseph.
He said a lot of students walk Hanna's route toward school and he feels it's something the city should take a hard look at.
"We've encouraged parents to write us a letter so we can lobby the city for sidewalks along that road," said Von Hagen.
Norman Kyle, city public works engineer, said plans for a sidewalk in the area are in the city's 20-year-strategy, but at the moment lack of money keeps the project on paper.
"We just don't have the money," said Kyle.
"We have bigger priorities, some streets are falling apart and some sidewalks have the potential of becoming hazardous," he said.
Kyle said the city approached school boards last fall to teach kids street safety, but hasn't received much feed back.
