A commuter’s worst nightmare came true for the passengers on an Ottawa bus last Wednesday when a collision claimed six lives. Like millions of people worldwide, they undertook their daily commutes to school or their job assuming that their mode of transport was safe. Unfortunately, that is not always true, and something went wrong causing the bus to intersect the path of a passenger train headed to Toronto with catastrophic results.
Emergency brakes applied seconds before the impact did little to prevent the train from continuing to barrel forwards, shearing off the front of the double-decker bus and derailing the front of the train. Five people were pronounced dead at the scene with a sixth person later passing away in hospital. Another thirty were injured.
There is a feeling of shock and extreme sadness as people share their stories of the victims. The dead are representative of the city that now mourns them, well rounded and contentious citizens proud of their work and communities. Dave Woodard (45) the caring bus driver who offered to drive Ottawa’s more vulnerable people in his own vehicle during bus strikes. Rob More, (35) who despite suffering from cerebral Palsy led a fulfilling life working at IBM. Karen Krzyzewski (53) is typical of many of our parents, a mother of two grown up children she had worked at Library and Archives Canada for 28 years. Two Carleton students, Connor Boyd and Kyle Nash (21) were in the midst of using their studies to build on seemingly lifelong passions. Michael Bleakney (57) frequently skipped the bus in favour of doing the 30 km bike ride from his home to the Public Works and Government Services Canada where he worked as an engineer.
In the few days that have passed since the disaster, investigators have just begun to do their work looking at recorders from the crossing gate, train, and bus. On behalf of the Transportation Safety Board, Rob Johnston, the lead investigator, has said that according to the data recorder in the crossing the gate, it was fully horizontal and had been for 25 seconds when the bus struck it. The crossing gates, bells and lights had all engaged 47 seconds prior to the crash meaning that the driver had nearly a minute to stop the bus. Despite traveling only 75 km/hr, well below the posted limit of 161km/hr, train engineers were only able to apply the brakes 2 seconds before impact. The data recorder from the bus sustained substantial damage in the impact and might be difficult to obtain data from. Reports from bystanders in cars stopped at the crossing seem to vary, some have the bus accelerating into the train while others report it braking, but too late to prevent the collision. People on the bus remember screams for the bus driver to stop just prior to the impact but once again whether he was trying to brake is unknown.
Could this have been prevented? First and foremost for many after concerns for the affected families and friends is the search for answers. The list of causes is endless, was it a design flaw, mechanical failure, or maybe human error? People make mistakes, it is only human, but could this have been an accident just waiting to happen? Already media has narrowed in on a noise bylaw that prohibits trains from sounding their whistles before crossings between 8 PM and noon which may have silenced that critical last warning signal before disaster. They also note that sight lines coming into the railway track crossing were not the best. However, stopping may have been impossible anyways due to faulty breaks or a faulty clutch. An anonymous bus driver has admitted that the extra weight on the double-decker buses makes slowing down considerably more difficult, a failure to compensate for the weight may prove to be a fatal design flaw.
In Canada there are an average of three Canadians killed on the job every day, often because of inadequate training or unsafe working conditions. It is easy in the midst of heightened emotions to blame the bus driver. Was he distracted and acted too late? Did he suffer a medical emergency, perhaps falling unconscious behind the wheel? Ideally in case of such lapses safety measures should be built in both the layout of the transit ways as well as the bus design to prevent these sorts of tragedies from occurring.
Although freak accidents happen it is important to remember that something can always be learned that will make that technology or professional practices safer. When we graduate and receive our iron rings, it should somberly remind each and every one of us of the importance of our work. A part you design might someday end up being the critical component that fails in a situation similar to this. Finding and admitting to mistakes could save lives.
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