The driver of a bus that struck and killed a grade two student in St. Albert has pleaded not guilty to two charges.
Joseph Allen was scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday morning; his attorney appeared on his behalf.
Allen is charged with careless driving and failing to yield to a pedestrian in connection to a September crash that killed 6-year-old Thomas Wedman.
Wedman died after being hit by a school bus on his way to school; he was crossing a busy intersection near École Marie Pubouran.
The not guilty pleas come on the same day as a decision by St. Albert city council to conduct a safety review of community intersections.
On Monday afternoon, city councillors voted in favour of supporting a committee that will conduct a review of the intersections around each of St. Albert’s twenty-five schools.
“It’s really a broad look at all school sites. Access, pedestrian crosswalks, lights - all of those things - making sure we look at all schools,” said St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse.
The initiative is being led by city planning and engineering GM, David Hales. It's called “Safe Journeys to School”.
“We’re going to be going out in the community to ask for people that have experience, expertise and an interest in intersection safety around the community,” said Hales. “We’ll also be going out and bringing in professional expertise to help the committee help to work on this project.”
The mayor said the $200,000 price tag for the review will come from an account funded by red light camera tickets.
“So you run a red light in St. Albert and you’re going to be paying for a study to make it safer in the long term,” said Crouse.
It is hoped recommendations on how to improve safety at intersections will be released in time for the next school year.
With files from Ashley Molnar
