The deaths of two women who were struck by a bus and killed on an icy downtown D.C. street Wednesday night marked the eighth and ninth pedestrian fatalities involving Metrobuses in 19 months.

D.C. police charged Metrobus driver Victor Kolako with two counts of negligent homicide in connection with the deaths.

In the wake of the crash, Metro General Manager John Catoe announced Thursday that all Metrobus drivers will now have to take an annual safety refresher course. Previously, only those with problem driving records were required to take a safety course.

“It was a tragedy,” Catoe said. “The operator has driven through crosswalks tens of thousands of times without incident. Unfortunately, this time something went tragically wrong.”

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Kolako, 53, of Southwest D.C., drove northbound on Seventh Avenue NW and turned left onto Pennsylvania Avenue at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when the bus failed to yield to Sally McGee and Martha S. Schoenborn, D.C. police said. McGee and Schoenborn were in the crosswalk on Pennsylvania and had the “walk” signal and right of way, police said.

McGee died on the scene. Schoenborn, 59, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Both women lived in the 3200 block of Ravensworth Place in Alexandria.

Kolako, a six-year Metro employee with a clean driving record, was put on leave. Kolako had driven for about two hours before the accident Wednesday and had rested for more than the legally required eight hours after his last shift, Catoe said.

The police major crash division’s investigation is ongoing. Catoe said he did not know whether the weather contributed to the crash.

Contractors plowed the busy Penn Quarter intersection, part of the National Highway System, before the incident, D.C. Department of Transportation spokesman Eric Linden said. DDOT will look at the D.C. police investigation once it is completed to see if more safety measures are needed at the intersection, he said.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com