DOTS Shuttle-UM
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A Shuttle-UM bus struck a male University of Maryland student near Stamp Student Union earlier this month, leaving him with non-life-threatening injuries.
While College Park is no stranger to accidents involving pedestrians, particularly along Route 1, it’s rare for a university bus to hit a student, said David Allen, executive director of the Department of Transportation Services.
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It is often rumored that a student is eligible to receive free tuition if he or she is hit by a university bus. Although this rumor is not unique to the university, Allen said, it is “whimsical” and entirely false.
“In my 30 years here, [the rumor] has gone by my consciousness, but I can’t imagine any university would actually do that,” he said. “I’m not sure where it came from.”
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During Allen’s tenure with DOTS, he said, he’s dealt with incidents with buses hitting other cars on the roadway but not pedestrians.
He added that DOTS does not have a regulation or precedent that would mislead people into believing students will be compensated in the event of an accident.
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