By ERIN ROLL
roll@montclairlocal.news
A 26-year-old au pair from Israel living with a Montclair family was killed Saturday evening after the bus she had just stepped off of struck her, authorities said.
Maya Maor was exiting a DeCamp bus at the intersection of Grove Street and Mt. Hebron Road around 6 p.m. on Feb. 24 when the 66 bus apparently struck her. Authorities said that the bus driver did not stop.
Maor was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:48 p.m.
Montclair Police Lt. David O’Dowd referred all queries to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutor’s office spokesperson Katherine Carter said the driver had been identified, but authorities were not releasing his name at that time. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday.
Two bouquets of flowers with photos of Maor attached to them had been placed next to the traffic signal at the northwest corner of Grove and Mt. Hebron on Tuesday.
Heather Ragone, a corporate attorney speaking on DeCamp’s behalf, said the company was deeply saddened by the accident, and were cooperating with authorities. She would not comment further.
It is unknown whether factors such as the rainy weather that day and darkness at that hour may have contributed to the accident.
Requests for comment from the Israeli Consulate in New York were not immediately returned Tuesday. However, media reports indicated that the consulate was assisting Maor’s family with having Maor’s body returned to Israel.
Maor’s death is the second pedestrian fatality to occur on Grove Street in less than a year, and it is also the first pedestrian fatality for 2018.
In June, Mary DeFilippis, an administrator at Montclair State University, died when a vehicle struck her near the intersection of Grove Street and Chester Road.
DeFilippis’s death brought about a renewed discussion of traffic safety issues on Grove Street and in Montclair.
Grove Street and Walnut Street were tied for the second-most frequent location of pedestrian accidents in 2017, with six pedestrian accidents each. Valley Road saw the most pedestrian accidents, with eight total, while Bloomfield Avenue saw five, according to information provided by Drive With Care in Montclair, a pedestrian safety advocacy group.
“Over the past several years, the pedestrian safety committee has tried to work with DeCamp to put pedestrian safety information in the buses, which would encourage riders to be careful crossing the roadways after disembarking, wear reflective clothing, and use a light,” said Alexandra Kent, Drive With Care’s coordinator. “So far, we have not been able to have these posters displayed. I know they have a policy of not allowing handouts, presumably for littering reasons.”
She added that Bike and Walk Montclair carried out a campaign several years ago in which they gave “blinky” lights to bus passengers who got off the bus in Montclair in order to make them more visible at night.