HOUSTON – With 1,500 buses on the road every day, METRO expects to uphold the highest safety standards at all times. But Ken, a Channel 2 viewer, captured something of concern with his GoPro dash camera and shared it with the television station.
In the video, Ken's traffic signal is green, and a METRO bus runs a red light in front of Hamilton Middle School at Cavalcade and Heights Boulevard It happened at about 4:50 p.m., an hour after class let out. The intersection is typically very busy at the end of a school day.
Channel 2 showed Ken’s video to METRO passengers.
“It's careless. They are supposed to make sure, as our drivers and us, as customers, that we are safe and that they are safe. They are on the bus, too,” Reyiel Fortilla said.
Ken wasn’t able to get the bus number but based on the video, which Channel 2 showed METRO’s chief operating officer, METRO was able to identify the driver, based on the type of bus and the time of day.
"We take safety as priority one, so yes, it does concern us. That's why when we found out, based on the video, who operated it, and we will follow up on it. I want to thank whoever brought the tape forward,” Andy Skabowski said.
The driver will be disciplined and re-trained to make sure she understands the importance of safe driving practices.
”They've got a lot of lives on their hands. One innocent mistake could hurt a lot of innocent people,” Alvin