Posted: May 14, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 14
Transport Canada officials look at the scene where double-decker 8155 struck a transit shelter at Westboro Station in Ottawa in January 2019.(Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
A confidential interim report made public in filings from the Westboro bus crash trial recommends a series of safety improvements to the Transitway, from improved station design to lower speed limits.
The collision of an OC Transpo double-decker with a bus shelter on Jan. 11, 2019 injured at least 35 people and killed three Judy Booth, Anja Van Beek and Bruce Thomlinson.
The driver, Aissatou Diallo, 44, has pleaded not guilty to all 38 dangerous driving charges against her.
OTTAWA Questions were raised about steering, speed, and whether the bus driver was distracted at any time on the final day of testimony at the Westboro bus crash trial. On Monday, Crown attorney Dallas Mack showed the defence s key witness, collision reconstruction expert Richard Lamoureux, video of Aissatou Diallo on the day of the crash using her phone then putting it away before picking up passengers. He then went through grainy video that he alleged showed Diallo taking a headphone out of her ear after the crash and the phone in her hand as she rushes to the top floor of the bus.
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A collision reconstruction expert says driver Aissatou Diallo likely could not have stopped her skidding double-decker bus before it slammed into Westboro Station even if she had hit the brakes.
Engineer Richard Lamoureux told court Thursday that he conducted a series of calculations that considered the speed of the OC Transpo bus, the road conditions, a driver’s typical response time, and the available stopping distance.
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Try refreshing your browser, or WESTBORO BUS CRASH: Expert says it s unlikely skidding bus could have been stopped Back to video
He concluded that even if Diallo had reacted quickly to driving onto the Transitway’s snowy shoulder and applied the brakes in less than one second, she still would have been unable to bring bus 8155 to a halt before it struck Westboro Station.
Richard Lamoureux, a collision reconstruction expert from DFA Engineering Services Inc., presented his report to court Tuesday, deconstructing the incident as four collisions, not one.
Lamoureux said his report was based on a combination of video from the bus, data that was downloaded from the bus by investigators and police reports. He said he did not interview Diallo.
Court was shown video from the back of the bus that showed a stop request sign was lit at 3:49 p.m., a little more than a minute before the crash.
Lamoureux said the double-decker s movement was gradual and resembled a lane change to do a stop at Westboro station.
WESTBORO BUS CRASH: Defence witness calls fatal Westboro bus crash entirely foreseeable “In our opinion, a safety audit ought to have identified the potential risks posed by the Transitway shelters to double-decker buses.
Author of the article: Andrew Duffy
Publishing date: May 04, 2021 • May 4, 2021 • 3 minute read Aissatou Diallo walks to the Ottawa courthouse in late March. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia
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An accident reconstruction expert says the Westboro bus crash was “entirely foreseeable” given the design of the Transitway and the danger posed to double-decker buses by its stations.
“In our opinion, a safety audit ought to have identified the potential risks posed by the Transitway shelters to double-decker buses,” engineer Richard Lamoureux concluded in his April 2021 report on the crash, prepared at the request of OC Transpo driver Aissatou Diallo’s defence team.