WikiPortallus: 2008 Bathurst van collision.html

The Boys in Red accident, or 2008 Bathurst van collision, was a collision between a van carrying the basketball team from Bathurst High School which had been returning from a game in Moncton and a transport truck just outside the town of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada. Eight people were killed and four others were injured.¹ The accident was the deadliest in New Brunswick since 1989,² when a logging truck tipped onto a hayride in Cap-Pele killing twelve,³ and the deadliest accident involving a Canadian sports team.⁴

The investigation found a series of factors contributed to the accident including driver error, weather and lack of snow tires and prompted changes to rules and regulations regarding student transport in New Brunswick and elsewhere. The safety of 15-passenger vans was questioned, and subsequently Ford Club Wagons were banned from transporting students in many areas of Canada.

Accident

The Bathurst High School basketball team was returning from a game against rival Moncton on the night of January 11, 2008 in a van driven by the team coach Wayne Lord. In the early hours of January 12, the van was travelling northward on Route 8 in poor weather and road conditions. As the van was approaching the city limits the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with a southbound transport truck. The two vehicles came to rest on the shoulder of the road next to the southbound lane of the highway approximately 40 metres (130 ft) from the point of impact.⁵⁶

The accident was discovered by a police officer who initially thought it was only a truck that had come off the road. Upon approaching, he discovered the mangled van and called for backup. The rear wall and a large portion of the right-hand side of the vehicle, including three rows of seats in the van, had been torn away carrying with them their passengers.⁵ According to early reports, three bodies were thrown outside the van along with their seat belts and seats. Emergency services responded slower than usual due to freezing rain. Seven students and the wife of the team coach were declared dead at the scene. The coach, his daughter and two players survived the impact and were rushed to Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst. One of the injured was listed in critical condition, two in stable, and the fourth was released shortly after the accident. The driver of the transport truck was not injured.⁷

Reaction

Parents of the students were waiting to pick up their children at the local McDonald's restaurant, only ten minutes from the site of the accident. Nathan Cleland, one of the eight killed in the collision, called his parents shortly before the accident to let them know they were only minutes from home, Cleland's parents stated that the boys were laughing and having a good time.⁶ They would only learn of the accident later that morning.⁷

School District 15 Superintendent, John McLaughlin said that the community was in a state of shock. Premier of New Brunswick Shawn Graham stated: "I just want to extend sympathies to the affected families. This is a tragic situation for the community of Bathurst and our province."⁸ Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper said the incident has "shocked the nation" and called for a day of mourning across the country.⁶ Valery Vienneau, Bishop of Bathurst, read a message on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI stating: "(The Pope) expresses sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness to the members of their families and to all staff and students who have been touched by this tragedy. The Pope assures all concerned of his prayers for those who died and for their families."⁹

On January 16, five days following the accident all sports-related extracurricular activities in the province were cancelled. Services were held across the country, some schools showed their respect by dressing up in red and black, the colours of Bathurst High School. A funeral for the seven basketball players was held in Bathurst at the K.C. Irving Civic Centre drawing in about 6,000 mourners. The civic centre could only contain 3,500 people so many mourners filled the adjacent rink to observe the service on a widescreen television. Elizabeth Lord's private funeral followed the next day.¹⁰¹¹

Jack Lengyel, known for having coached Marshall University's football team after Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed, killing 37 members of the team in 1970, funded his own trip to the community from Arizona to assist in the grieving process. He went on to state that teams should not be transported in small vans such as the one used in Bathurst.¹²¹³

Superintendent John McLaughlin noted that Wayne Lord held the appropriate licence to drive the vehicle and that there were no laws or regulations in the province which stated when teams could be driven, or not, depending on the weather. He also added: "That's really hard because you have to gauge the weather each time you have to make a decision. As for what happened last night, I can't comment. I don't have that information. But in general, our people take great care in making decisions based on the information that they have at the time."¹⁴

Investigation

The RCMP released a report on the collision on July 29, 2008. A spokesperson stated that the van would not have passed a safety inspection at the time of the accident due to rust in the body of the vehicle, and that it had worn all-season tires and faulty brakes, although none of these factors were deemed to be the sole cause of the accident.¹⁵ The vehicle had been inspected on October 29, 2007, approximately two months prior to the collision, and was four months away from its next inspection. The report resulted in public questioning of the integrity of New Brunswick's motor vehicle inspection program.¹⁶ The RCMP stated that the van was travelling about 73 kilometres per hour (45 mph) and the transport at approximately 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) at the time of the collision. Both were well below the posted limit of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph).⁵

Transport Canada released a report on July 30, 2008. The report blamed the weather conditions, but put more focus on driver fatigue and driver error. It also cited several breaches of provincial law regarding operation of commercial vehicles. The driver was considered to have been on duty for 16 hours when the collision happened, contravening the law which states that one cannot drive beyond 14 consecutive hours of duty. The report also identified inadequate pre-trip inspections and log book keeping, and the lack of a contingency plan in the event of poor weather.⁵ Transport Canada stated that although they put a different emphasis on certain factors, the report was consistent with the RCMP's reconstruction. It also stated that the vehicle would have failed an inspection in its pre-collision state due to worn tires and brakes.¹⁷

Six of the victims were not wearing their seat belts, while a seventh was not properly restrained. Frank Wilson, a collision analyst and head Transport Canada investigator, later suggested that seat belts most likely would not have saved lives in this particular collision.¹⁸ Randy Arseneau credits the fact that his son, Bradd Arseneau, was not wearing his seatbelt as part of the reason Bradd survived, saying that had the boy not been thrown to the floor just before the collision he most likely would have died.¹⁹

Aftermath

An unfinished memorial in honour of the victims was revealed on June 6, 2008. An archway with a basketball net was placed in a courtyard behind the school. The memorial was funded by the Boys in Red Fund, established after the accident. A temporary memorial at the crash site consisting of two basketball nets and flowers was also erected.²⁰

The accident caused school boards and teams across Canada to review their transportation policies, and there was public questioning of the safety of 15-passenger vans like the E350 Ford Club Wagon involved in the accident. Phil Edmonston, author of the Lemon-Aid guides on used cars, said "I've read the reports saying that this is a freak blameless accident, and I disagree. This is not a freak accident. It happens all the time with 15-passenger vans."²¹ Milton Chase, a safety expert, said that the Ford E-350 Superclub Wagon was "one of the most dangerous passenger vehicles for rollovers ever built".²²

Following the accident, all New Brunswick schools immediately halted the use of these vehicles.²³ Many school districts across Canada also banned the use of the vans in the following months.Nova Scotia is currently the only province in Canada to restrict the use of these vehicles for students.²⁴ Nova Scotia banned the vehicles after an accident in a 15 passenger van killed 3 members of a hockey team and a volunteer in 1984.²⁵

On August 13, 2008, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) released CSA D270, a standard to create a new class of vehicle known as a multi-functional activity bus. These vehicles are subject to crash tests, rollover protection and emergency tests before being allowed into service. This standard had been started in 2006, in response to other incidents involving 15-passenger vans and sports teams, but the release had been delayed. Some newspapers such as The Globe and Mail have suggested that had the standard been released before the Bathurst crash the accident might not have taken place.²⁶

Recommendations

On August 26, 2008, a government working group presented New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock with eight recommendations for extracurricular transportation in the province as a direct result of the Boys in Red Tragedy. The eight recommendations are:

Originally Lamrock only asked schools to follow the recommendations though they have since been made into enforcable policies in New Brunswick.²⁸²⁹

One of the effects of the recommendations now makes it mandatory that all vehicle operators who intend to use their vehicles to transport students between extracurricular activities be covered by a Third Party Liability and Accident Benefit policy in the amount of no less than CAD$2 million for vehicles with a capacity of fewer than 10 passengers and no less than CAD$5 million for vehicles with a capacity of greater than 10. This also applies to parents if they wish to chauffeur someone else's child to any school related extracurricular activity.³⁰

The changes have had a critical reception in the province. Many of the rural schools have found that costs have drastically increased.³¹ Many students are required to pay higher sports fees in order to cover higher transportation costs. Other schools do not have access to approved vehicles. The Education Act prohibits schools and school districts from owning their own vehicles. Many schools use incorporated bodies to operate vehicles for extracurricular activities. These incorporated bodies require additional funds to buy new vehicles and purchase the required insurance which can only be financed via extra fundraising on the part of the schools and their students.³²

New transportation policies, combined with the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association's (NBIAA) decision to eliminate its A division in basketball, resulted in the cancellation of the 2008 Dalhousie Regional High School (DRHS) Christmas Classic Basketball Tournament. This tournament which had been held for 18 years had to be cancelled for what the school cited as: "new restrictions on when kids can play, imposed on high school athletics by school districts across the province, have made it impossible for (our school) to host the event this year." This caused widespread anger and disappointment amongst students. It is however one of only many events rural schools have had to cancel since the accident in Bathurst. There are concerns that more tournaments could be cut as long as the current policies exist, and that some extracurricular programs for smaller schools may end indefinitely.³³³⁴³⁵

Criminal charges

On November 12, 2008 the RCMP ruled out laying criminal charges in relation with the accident. The RCMP stated that the finding had been reviewed by a Crown prosecutor and that no wrongdoing was found.³⁶ Several families of the deceased stated that they disapproved of the decision and indicated that they themselves may bring a lawsuit against several of the involved parties. The chief coroner of the province stated that a provincial inquest into the accident may still be possible though a decision on the subject may take some time. As of November 27, 2008 no decision on an inquest into the accident has been announced.³⁷³⁸

2008 Bathurst van collision.html

Contents

Accident

Reaction

Investigation

Aftermath

Recommendations

Criminal charges

See also

References

External links