ORLANDO, Fla. — LYNX has settled nearly $7 million worth of claims related to crashes, in the last five years, 9 Investigates uncovered.
The crashes are caused by drivers hitting vehicles and pedestrians on the road.
Investigative Reporter Daralene Jones learned some of the accidents involved the same driver, even after one pedestrian, Matthew Robinson, was killed.
Matthew, 10, was a self-proclaimed “momma's boy.”
“Always kissing, always hugging,” said mother Sharon Robinson.
He and his brother, Mark, were walking in a crosswalk, when a LYNX bus driver failed to stop, investigators said. The driver was running 12 minutes behind on his route, and said he never saw the boys, investigators said. Matthew was killed; his brother survived.
A lengthy legal battle ended when LYNX agreed to a $3.2 million settlement in 2015.
“Clearly, this was a driver that, when we initially did the background checks on him, he had prior problems,” said family attorney Jeremy Markman.
Since LYNX settled the Robinson case, preventable accidents continue to be a problem.
There were 116 preventable accidents reported last year, a 56 percent increase over 2015.
Accident settlement claims have also increased. The trend started in 2013 and ballooned in 2015, due to the Robinson case.
LYNX paid out more than $800,000 in accident claims last year. The CEO, Edward Johnson, told Jones the year the claim was settled doesn’t necessarily reflect when the crash occurred.
“How concerned are you about the crashes caused by your drivers?” Jones asked.
“Well, I think the information that you’ve received up until this point were incidents that happened prior to my arrival,” said Johnson.
Johnson was interim CEO at the time of Matthew's accident. He worked at LYNX 13 years before returning last year as CEO. He said a newly created safety committee is reviewing monthly data to determine what trends might be causing accidents.
A safety manager, which has not been hired yet, will focus on training.
These are all things Matthew's mother said should've happened years ago.
“These are things that are preventable. So everybody needs to be concerned,” Sharon Robinson said.
Cox Media Group
