The Kitsap Transit bus driver who hit a bicyclist on Highway 305 in early November was speeding at the time of the accident, according to documents recently released by Kitsap Transit.

The early morning accident on Highway 305 just south of the Agate Pass Bridge left the bicyclist hospitalized with serious injuries, including three broken vertebrae in his back, a broken pelvis, two broken ribs and other internal injuries.

Bainbridge police investigated and determined that the driver of the bus was at fault and that the cyclist, a 52-year-old Poulsbo man, had been riding south along the shoulder of the road when the bus driver left his lane while rounding a curve and struck the man. The bus driver was cited for “improper passing on the left.”

According to documents obtained by the Review after a public records request earlier this month, the driver told investigators he didn’t think he could have done anything to avoid the accident.

A closer look at the collision by Kitsap Transit’s Accident Review Committee, however, determined that the accident was “preventable.”

In a suspension memo to the bus driver, a 55-year-old Poulsbo man, Kitsap Transit Operations Manager Jack Freer noted the driver should have been prepared for possible obstructions on the roadway, “either in plain view or hidden by the crest of a hill or the curve of a roadway.”

Freer also said he thought that speed was a “contributing factor” in the accident.

He noted that the state’s guide for commercial drivers stresses that drivers should slow down when approaching curves.

Freer also said the speed limit on that stretch of Highway 305 is 45 mph, but data taken from the GPS system on the bus showed the bus was traveling at 54 mph.

“I think the excessive speed exacerbated the effects of centrifugal force as you tried to follow the left curve and that contributed to the lane encroachment (witnessed by a motorcyclists following your bus) that resulted in contact with a cyclist,” Freer wrote.

Contrary to the driver’s statement, Freer said the driver was not doing all that he could to avoid the mishap.

“The result was an accident that potentially changed the life of a fellow citizen,” Freer wrote.

Documents from Kitsap Transit also show the driver had a good record with the agency.

According to his operator file, the driver was given a four-year “Safe Driving Award” less than a month before the accident.

Though he also had one accident on his record from December 2014, Kitsap Transit’s Accident Review Committee determined that accident was “non-preventable.”

The driver had also been named to the Kitsap Transit Honor Roll at least seven times in the past year, and had also earned a “Driver of the Month” award in 2015.

Records indicate the driver had also been a trainer-mentor for new bus drivers and had gotten positive reviews from co-workers.

After the accident was reviewed by Kitsap Transit, the driver was taken off paid administrative leave and suspended for a week without pay.

The suspension also made the driver ineligible for three quarters of merit pay.