Pedestrian Killed by School Bus at Wurts and Spring St in Kingston, NY
Kingston, NY — January 6, 2023, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a Kingston School District bus at an intersection in Ulster County.
Authorities say the incident happened around 5:00 p.m. at Wurts and Spring streets. Preliminary investigation suggests only that the victim was on foot in the area when they were hit by the school bus, which was returning to the yard after it had finished dropping students off.
The pedestrian was fatally injured in the collision. No other injuries were reported.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information is currently available.
Oddly enough, even when preliminary reports are as light on details as the ones about Ulster County are I still must caution people not to jump to conclusions. As with most collisions there's almost certainly more to the story than the simple but sad "vehicle hits person" narrative in breaking news, so it's important to investigate carefully and ensure all the facts are found.
As things stand there are still innumerable questions to answer, the most notable of which is probably "How did this happen?" How did the pedestrian end up in the bus's path? The incident happened shortly after sunset, so was limited visibility an issue? Images of Wurts and Spring show it's a 4-way stop controlled by signs; did the bus stop as required? Was the pedestrian crossing through the road, and if so did they use the marked crosswalks there? Did anything prevent either person from noticing the other?
I don't mean to overcomplicate things, but I think most would agree that a few vague sentences in the news don't really clarify what happened. As frustrating as I find that, I can't begin to imagine how the pedestrian's loved ones must feel. They deserve every fact that a full investigation can uncover, so I hope authorities are hard at work getting them some real answers.
