Shuttle bus driver charged after collision with crop sprayer on Wolfe Island

The driver of the shuttle bus that collided with a crop-spraying arm of a tractor near the Dawson Point ferry dock on Wolfe Island has now been charged.

The collision occurred just before 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, at Dawsons Point, a short distance from where the Wolfe Island Ferry currently loads and unloads passengers on the Island. Four patients were transferred to Kingston General Hospital by Frontenac Paramedics and, according to Const. Erin Cranston of the Ontario Provincial Police, all four sustained minor injuries and are expected to be released from hospital the same day.

Cranston said the arm of the tractor went through the front windshield of the bus on the passenger’s side of the vehicle, and then through a driver’s side side-window near the back of the bus, after the driver of the shuttle bus drove into the crop-spraying arm. The tractor was stationary at the time of the incident, according to Cranston.

As a result, the driver of the shuttle bus – which is simply a school bus – was charged with careless driver, Cranston said just after 5 p.m.

The shuttle bus was implemented on Wolfe Island earlier this summer to assist in getting Ferry passengers to and from Marysville, or “The Village” of the Island. The Ferry usually docks at Marysville in the summer, however, is currently docking year-round at Dawson’s Point during the construction of the new ferry dock at Marysville.