The horrific 2019 bus crash that left three Ottawa commuters useless, injured greater than 30 different passengers, sparked a flurry of lawsuits, triggered a legal trial that ended within the acquittal of the bus driver — and finally raised questions on bus security within the metropolis — is now again underneath the microscope.
On Jan. 11, 2019, an OC Transpo double-decker carrying greater than 85 passengers slammed into the metal overhang of the Westboro transitway bus shelter.
Space resident Len Tucker remembers staring down on the chaotic web site.
“There [were] stretchers … you see the bus broken, you see the roof…. You knew it was catastrophic,” Tucker, the present chair of the Westboro Neighborhood Affiliation, recalled to CBC earlier this week.
Bruce Thomlinson, Judy Sales space and Anja Van Beek — all public servants seated on the bus’s prime deck — died because of the collision.
Amid a string of lawsuits filed by survivors and grieving households, the town accepted civil duty for the crash and has so far paid out nearly $30 million in two dozen settlements.
The driving force, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with harmful driving inflicting loss of life. Legal fees in opposition to the town weren’t warranted, in line with police.
The choose in Diallo’s case, citing components corresponding to complicated street markings and the obtrusive solar, stated to convict her could be “to forged the online far too vast” and located her not responsible.
Gamers on the inquest desk
Whereas not a authorized continuing, the inquest will forged a contemporary layer of scrutiny on the circumstances of the crash.
Laura Shantz, a board member with the advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders, is glad to see that.
“Within the trial, it actually appeared the town and OC Transpo had been making [Diallo] stand all by herself as the only particular person accountable,” Shantz stated. “It was actually, in my thoughts, fairly distasteful that there wasn’t extra of a worldwide what-happened.”
Diallo’s trial heard she had solely been on the job for about 5 months and that, one month earlier than the Westboro crash, Diallo was concerned in a separate, albeit much less critical, collision.
Even earlier than the trial, Diallo confronted racist, misogynistic and “horrible jokes about girls drivers,” Shantz stated. “I really feel very unhealthy that she needed to endure that.”
Each the town and the Amalgamated Transit Union native that represents staff of OC Transpo shall be represented on the inquest. So will the households of two of the passengers who died, in line with the town.
Every get together will get to query inquest witnesses. It is unclear if Diallo — who didn’t testify at her trial — shall be a witness on the inquest.
A jury of 5 civilians shall be requested to listen to the testimony and contemplate making suggestions for the best way to forestall a tragedy just like the Westboro crash from occurring once more.
Double-deckers are nonetheless in use in Ottawa, together with on the street-level bus shelters at Westboro station.
The station’s transitway and floor are presently underneath development. They’re being readied for the westward growth of Ottawa’s Line 1 LRT service.
The inquest is predicted to final 4 weeks and, like Diallo’s COVID-era trial, is going down just about.
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