Saskatchewan Tragedy

Grandpa

Member
10
Sad day in Canada.....especially for everyone who has had kids play minor hockey in Canada. Our prayers for everyone involved in this horrific tragedy...everyone.
As a professional driver with over 40 years experience, irregardless of media reports, the pictures I've seen show that the truck did not T-bone the bus!
Doesn't change anything..
Sad day in Canada.
 

Michael Ludwig

Well-Known Member
20
Very sad day indeed. Any accident costing someone's life is a tragedy. Some just tug at the heartstrings more than others. I am sure we all said an extra prayer each night, and in church Sunday morning.

Regardless of fault, the trucking industry will be under a microscope in the coming days, weeks, and months. Especially when it comes out that the truck was the at fault vehicle, and there's no doubt it was the truck's fault. He had the stop sign, albeit there may be extenuating circumstances. I suspect we'll know soon enough.

We would all do well to defend our industry in a calm and respectful manner. Start committing accident statistics to memory ... sadly, you're going to need them.
 

Cstewart

Member
5
Sad day in Canada.....especially for everyone who has had kids play minor hockey in Canada. Our prayers for everyone involved in this horrific tragedy...everyone.
As a professional driver with over 40 years experience, irregardless of media reports, the pictures I've seen show that the truck did not T-bone the bus!
Doesn't change anything..
Sad day in Canada.
Very sad day indeed. Thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.
 

Freight Broker

Well-Known Member
30
Bullshit. They're blaming lack of experience with a B train.. he would have seen the stop sign and stopped had it been a van.. a livestock trailer? Come on.. the lack of experience on B-Trains doesn't look to me as if it contributed to the accident..
 

Michael Ludwig

Well-Known Member
20
All conjecture and mudslinging.
Now you know why I am not a CTA (or OTA) member. Who needs people like that representing our industry???
The right thing to have said would have been "We won't really know what happened until the police have concluded their investigation.". Period. No further comment.
As it is, the CTA just painted that poor driver as a loose cannon on the roads of our great country and it has just been by sheer luck and the grace of God that the murdering bastard hasn't killed anyone else up to this point <insert severe sarcasm here>.
The CTA effectively said the public should just stand the company owner up against the wall and shoot him.
 

loaders

Site Supporter
30
The truck was on the road with the stop sign. The bus was on the thoroughfare, without the stop sign = bus had the right of way. Terrible, terrible accident with heartbreaking loss of young lives. Regardless if the truck was a B train, auto hauler, pick up, whatever, the driver of that vehicle ( one year experience or grizzled 20+ yr veteran) proceeded into the intersection when it was unsafe to do so. Should we as an industry be on the defensive when news media and government officials are quick to blame the "trucker"?.....of course we should! Conversely, when "one of our own" screws up and has a terrible lapse of judgement, or temporarily takes his eyes of the road, or even worse, displays his/her lack of experience, should we not hang our heads, admit the mistake, suck it up and do whatever we can to make our industry better? Sometimes I think our efforts at immediately being apologists for the mistakes and shortcomings of some in our industry when tragic events like this take place, would be better spent ensuring our employees are the best trained they can be. We complain that police and govt officials are often too quick to judge. Are we not being the same with our quick defence of the trucker, without knowing the facts?
 

Freight Broker

Well-Known Member
30
Well, I'm not defending or condemning the trucker... just stating that his experience or lack thereof as being a contributing factor to this accident is pure speculation at this point. Investigators are saying that finding the root cause could take some time.. and I believe that.. There are many factors here that could have caused this accident and/or aggravated the outcome to the extent that they did. Was it driver inexperience, fatique, inattenton, distracted driving, a lapse in judgement, a mechanical failure, or maybe all of those and more? We just don't know. We also don't know how fast the bus was going.. was he speeding? If he was going 20 KM over the speed limit then some of the blame for the death toll would rest on the bus driver as well. And until we do get some answers I think speculating on the carrier's training methods and the driver's level of experience as a contributing factor that lead to this accident is totally inappropriate.
 
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loaders

Site Supporter
30
For all of us that are not on the accident re-construction team, anything we might have to say is, as you stated, mere speculation. I agree, the level of training and experience, or lack thereof, may not have played any part in this event. Until we know why the driver of the truck was in the middle of the intersection at the same time as the bus, travelling with the right of way through that same intersection, this accident will remain a mystery.
 
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