TTC accelerates safety review in wake of death of teen girl

WATCH: In light of the death of a 14 year old girl days before Christmas, the TTC is reviewing its process of hiring and training drivers. Cindy Pom reports.

TORONTO – TTC CEO Andy Byford is accelerating a comprehensive review of driver training in the wake of several buses filmed driving through red lights and the death of a 14-year-old girl who was killed by a TTC bus Friday.

The TTC announced Monday it would be conducting a “comprehensive review of all bus and streetcar operator recruitment, training, recertification and monitoring programs.”

The review started seven weeks ago after reports of drivers running red lights but now Byford is asking staff to speed up the process in the wake of Friday’s fatal crash.

“The tragic death of Amaria Diljohn Friday evening has shaken all of us at the TTC,” Byford said in the press release. “I want to give the public, customers and all TTC employees assurance that safety is, and will remain, paramount in all that we do.”

Byford said during a press conference Monday that he expanded the scope of the review after Diljohn’s death to “reassure the public that we do take safety as a priority.”

That being said, he maintained the “vast majority” of TTC drivers are professional, safe drivers.

He wouldn’t comment on whether the driver involved in Friday’s death was still working for the TTC or had faced any discipline.

Police are seeking witnesses of Friday’s fatal crash and are still investigating. The driver, a 27-year-old male, has not been charged.

Dashboard cameras have caught at least four TTC buses running red lights since July when a bus on Eglinton Avenue had to swerve out of the way to avoid someone crossing the street.  That driver was later fired.