Bus crash in Saskatchewan

[bobofthenorth]

What I keep coming back to is the complete destruction of the bus.  It looks worse than it really was because they clearly cut the roof off but still...  I thought that a bus was some kind of impregnable cocoon.  In fact when I first heard how many deaths there were I assumed it must have been a school bus.  The Pete looks like you could put it on its feet and drive it home.  And its not like a load of peat moss is anything substantial either - more or less pallets with plastic bags full of compressed air.  Hard to believe.

[lyndon]

One thing I noticed in the pictures is the twisted frame on the tractor when you visually try to line up the steering axle with the drives. Sure, there's going to be a lot of static torque from the overturned trailers, but it seems to me that much twist had to come from the force of the collision itself. I wonder if the tractor lifted right over the front axle of the bus, as buswarrior noted, at high speed, high mass.

[Edit: Trying so hard not to speculate. Anyone suggesting we wait for the official report is correct, of course.]

[Oonrahnjay]

      This is so sad.  I am still trying to make my mind big enough to comprehend the loss and horror to survivors, families, friends, school, and community affected by this tragedy.  A terrible thing with long-lasting impacts. 

[lostagain]

There is a life and a world of its own on the team bus. Many, many hours are spent on the bus in a season. Some games are 1 hour away, some are 8 hours away. On a road trip, you can easily drive 1000-1500 miles for the week end. The kids do home work, sleep, chat, listen to music, play cards, play video games, watch movies on the overhead monitors. Friendships are forged on the bus. Victories are celebrated with 2 pulls on the air horn as you leave the arena parking lot. The mood is joyous for the first hour as everybody eats their slice of pizza, with the music playing loud on the bus stereo. Congrats for good plays and good saves go around, and good fights are recounted too. Silence accompanies the pizza after a loss... There is usually 2 or 3 adults on the bus: the head coach and assistant, the trainer, and 1 or 2 other helpers. The older more senior players would sit at the back, the rookies more near the front. And the driver of course, me for many years for the Columbia Valley Rockies Junior hockey team out of Invermere BC, driving them all over BC and WA. The driver becomes part of the team as you can imagine. There are rules to enforce on the bus, procedures and routines such as the boys loading their own bags underneath, and closing the bay doors properly, pee only in the can, no number 2, clean out the garbage when we get back home, etc, etc. You really get attached to those kids over the season. There are nights on the way home after a game far away when everybody is sleeping, except one kid would come up and sit beside me and talk about life for a while to keep me awake. And at times you sit on the highway idling waiting for a wreck to be cleared, or an avalanche to be cleaned up. I could go on about the winter driving but there is no point, it can get challenging at times, but that part stays invisible to the team for the most part, as it should be.
And that warm, cosy, safe cocoon of life on the bus abruptly came crashing to an end for the Broncos a couple of nights ago...
I am having a hard time coping with this now...

JC

[John316]

My condolences to all involved. I cannot imagine the heartache.

That is a very touching writeup, JC. As soon as I read about the wreck, I thought about you. There are no words to express how tragic this is.

[lyndon]

Thank you for sharing those warm and first-hand experiences from the team bus, JC. Everywhere I go and everyone I talk to seems to be affected in some profound way. Know that you are not alone and I hope you can find your way through this tragedy, as we all must.

For everybody that feels they want to help the team and their loved ones, there is a gofundme campaign:

https://ca.gofundme.com/funds-for-humboldt-broncos

[Jim Eh.]

What I keep coming back to is the complete destruction of the bus.  It looks worse than it really was because they clearly cut the roof off but still... 

The local news reports stated that the roof actually came off during the accident. There was one player from Winnipeg aboard that survived, injured but alive. He was actually ejected from the bus when the roof came off, as were several others. I suspect some of their injuries were due to this fact. While it is impossible to tell if injuries or the death toll would be less if the roof remained attached, it can only be stated that some injuries were as a direct result from the roof separation.

My brother-in-law was the bus driver for the Brandon Wheat Kings for several years and like JC, this event touched him deeply as it has for people around the world.

[Jeremy]

....this event touched him deeply as it has for people around the world.

I'm sure that's true, and indeed this story appeared in UK news bulletins on the day it happened. By comparison the story of the 24 Indian schoolchildren who were killed in a bus crash yesterday has received almost no coverage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-43712517

Jeremy

[belfert]

Bus crashes in third world countries are common enough that they just don't get all that much news coverage.

[bobofthenorth]

Local news just interviewed Brian Starkell, Nipawin's Fire Chief.  Initially he said that the bus roof was cut off in the accident but then later in the interview he said they brought in a crane from Tisdale to lift the roof off.  I'm not sure exactly what that means but someone pointed out on another thread that hitting a highboy trailer at the right angle could slice a bus along the window line.

The trucking company has been identified locally as Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd. of Calgary.  Evidently its a relatively new entity with 2 trucks.  One truck now I guess.  Alberta has pulled the company's permits pending the outcome of the RCMP investigation.  One of my sons has a dozen trucks hauling dangerous goods out of Medicine Hat.  I sent him a text this afternoon reminding him that the only thing standing between him and jail time for the bonehead actions of his drivers is paper properly filed. 

[DoubleEagle]

Many of us identify with this situation because we have spent time on the road, have seen accidents, and have had close calls. In my case, I have driven tractor-trailers in the US and Canada, and charter buses with all kinds of groups, including sports teams (yes, the teams are in a cozy cocoon on a bus). I think we all want to know what happened, and what fatal mistakes occurred. I personally think that in some respects, driving in more sparsely settled areas can be more dangerous than in urban areas because we drop our guard and get complacent. Crossing the big open areas of Canada and the Western US can be mind numbing and boring. We don't know what happened yet, and what the experience levels of the drivers were, but one or both of them made a mistake, in all likelihood. If they do a detailed analysis like in aircraft crashes, we may find out what occurred so that we can all learn from this horrible crash. UPDATE: The latest news indicates that the truck should have stopped at a stop sign, and the bus had the right-of-way.

[lostagain]

I am reading this morning that the driver had 2 weeks of training, and had been driving on his own for 2 weeks prior to the accident.

After driving buses and trucks all my life, I drive more cautiously and defensively now than ever, because of the experience. And I don't mean slow, I mean I come to a complete stop at a stop sign if the visibility isn't good. I know it is a PIA to do with a loaded semi, and a rolling stop hoping nobody is coming is a lot easier. But that rookie mistake that most of us have done and got away with, can become deadly in an instant... Too easy to assume nobody is coming if you haven't seen a vehicle in the last 20 minutes...

JC

[bevans6]

To be clear, the truck driver is the one who had a few weeks only of time with the company.  Reports don't say how long he'd possibly been licensed or driving for other companies.  But from what I understand getting a Class 1 license in Alberta could be done in as little as 2 weeks.

[Fred Mc]

I just saw a picture of the supposed semi tractor on its wheels in a compound. There is NO WAY that the semi t-boned the bus as has been reported in the papers. The hood is totally intact. Someone on this thread suggested, correctly I think, that the bus t-boned the semi.
So having said that the ONLY 2 options (in my opinion) are that either the semi blew the stop sign OR the semi stopped at the stop sign and then proceeded when unsafe. I lived in Sask and drove on those roads. Lots of times there MIGHT be one car go by in 15 minutes. There is a reason WHY the stop sing is accompanies by a flashing red light. The apparent force of the impact would lead me to believe the semi blew the stop sign. Had the semi stopped and then proceeded without looking the bus driver would probably have seen it inching out (the semi was fully loaded)and at least been prepared to take evasive action. That, I think, is the normal response from most drivers, or buses or other vehicles.

[lostagain]

We all have a "duty of care" while driving, privately or commercially.

JC