Kamloops driver gets social media love for helping senior
Transit System: Kamloops
6 January 2022
Snowy and icy conditions can cause serious havoc for pedestrians, especially those with mobility challenges. Transit Operator Darren Kiesman was recently recognized for making sure at least one Kamloops senior struggling with her walker got where she needed to safely.
“I had just pulled out of the stop near Tim Hortons in North Kamloops when I saw an older lady struggling to get from the roadway onto the sidewalk in heavy slush and snow,” said Darren Kiesman. “The whole sidewalk looked pretty bad and I knew I had the vehicle to help her, so I just pulled up next to her and dropped the bus down so she could get on.”
It turns out this person had been on Darren’s Route 1 Tranquille bus before, and was trying to get to the retirement home where she lives a block down the road. That walk would have been a challenge and possibly dangerous, as the wheels of her walker weren’t turning in the snow.
“When I told her I wanted to give her a ride, she was really shocked and quite grateful. We chatted a bit on the short trip, and when she got off, she told me I was her angel for the day, which was nice.”
This good deed didn’t go unnoticed. Kamloops resident Derek Molter happened to be in the area and was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.
“This was not a normal bus stop, and he didn’t have to help her. I thought it was just too cool,” said Derek Molter. “With everything that’s going on these days, what this driver did for a random resident needed to be told.”
Derek shared what he had witnessed with others on a few community Facebook groups. Here’s what one of his posts said:
Wow…that’s a first for me…I was just driving east on Tranquille, heading toward the entrance to the Save On parking lot. There was an elderly lady struggling with a walker and having a very hard time trying to push her walker down the poorly plowed sidewalk…as I pulled into the center turn lane to go into Save On, a city transit bus abruptly cut over and stopped right where this poor woman was walking…keeping in mind that this is not a regular city bus stop, I couldn’t believe it when I saw him stop and lower the bus right where she was standing. Traffic had to wait for her to get on the bus before it started moving again. I was able to sneak in behind the bus and get into the parking lot. Due to traffic moving all around me, I couldn’t stop in time to get a picture of her actually boarding the bus, but I got one of it stopped where it was…I just want to say good job, driver, it was nice to see a positive incident in a time when we see so much negative going on. I even called First Transit and told them what I witnessed and the supervisor seemed like he was pretty impressed.
As he mentions in the post, Derek Molter took the time to check in with First Transit to make sure Darren Kiesman’s good deed didn’t land him in hot water. In fact, it was just the opposite.
“When Derek told me about this situation it actually got me a little teary-eyed,” said Stacey Ceron, First Transit Assistant General Manager. “I couldn’t be more proud of what Darren did for that person, who could have been really impacted by a bad fall in those conditions.”
Like many drivers across the province, Darren Kiesman is always keeping an eye out for people in his community that might need support. While he didn’t do it for the recognition, it’s nice that his efforts were noticed and celebrated by people in the Kamloops community.
