Bus strikes student

A University student was hit by an MTD bus Monday afternoon on Wright Street, just north of the Chalmers Street crosswalk by Lincoln Hall, said Champaign police officer Jim Bednarz.

Benjamin Robin, junior in communications, was identified as the person hit by the bus. He was in fair condition at Carle Foundation Hospital, said Allison McLaughlin, public relations assistant for Carle.

After conducting interviews at the scene of the accident, Bednarz said Robin apparently had stepped in front of the bus without looking. It appeared that he was not in the crosswalk when the bus struck him, Bednarz said. Robin seemed all right before being taken to the hospital, he said.

Tom Costello, assistant director for Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, said the MTD currently was conducting an internal investigation and a decision about whether or not to penalize the driver would be made after the investigation. MTD declined to release the driver's name due to the pending investigation.

Robin is the second University student to be hit by an MTD bus on campus this school year. Graduate student Carolyn Jeffers died soon after being hit by an MTD bus on the corner of Gregory Drive and Goodwin Avenue on Oct. 27, 2004.

Costello said accidents involving the MTD were uncommon and this year is uncharacteristic of the company's history. He urged people to remember that pedestrians, bicycles, cars and buses shared the same space and to be careful in the campus area.