Highway shoulder was a factor in Bathurst accident

BATHURST, N.B. - Experts in accident reconstruction say a problem with the shoulder of a highway in northern New Brunswick was a factor in the crash of a school van that killed eight people, as well as a similar accident in the exact same spot.

RCMP Cpl. Annie Neilson told a coroner's inquest in Bathurst Thursday that a drop of six to seven centimetres from the asphalt to the gravel shoulder would have made it difficult to steer a vehicle back into the driving lane.

Wayne Lord, the coach and driver of a van carrying the Bathurst High School basketball team earlier testified that on Jan. 12, 2008, he veered to the right to give a wide berth to an oncoming transport truck, and his passenger side wheels caught the edge of the pavement.

His resulting steering correction put the van into a spin on the slush-covered highway, and ended with a violent collision with the truck.

The side and back of the 15-passenger Ford E350 Clubwagon were sheared off, and the bench seats and occupants ejected.

Seven teenaged players and Lord's wife were killed.

Both Neilson and Greg Sypher -- an investigator for Transport Canada -- documented their concerns about the shoulder of the highway in their separate accident reports.

On Thursday, Neilson told the coroner's jury that there was a very similar accident in December 2008 and it occurred at the exact same spot.

She said the driver of a Toyota Corolla caught the edge of the asphalt and collided with the trailer portion of an on-coming tractor-trailer. The driver was injured, but survived.

Outside the court, Neilson said she felt it was important to bring the second accident to the attention of the jury.

"Yes, specifically because there were two collisions happening in the same location with the same dynamics," she said.

In fact, Neilson said she has taken the issue further and written a letter to the Department of Transportation to see what can be done.

"If there is a contributing factor to a collision that is something we can identify and possibly fix, we like to bring it up," Neilson said.

Sypher also devoted a large portion of his testimony to educating the five-person jury on the issue of the highway shoulder.

However, he also made direct comments on the actions of the driver.

"The fact the vehicle was on the shoulder -- the driver made an error by not maintaining his lane, and he overcorrected," said Sypher.

A number of witnesses have testified there was enough snow and freezing rain on the highway to make it difficult -- if not impossible -- to see the centre and shoulder lines.

Data collected from the event recorder in the transport truck shows the driver had little time to respond.

It showed the trucker applied his brakes just over one second before the impact.

Sypher testified that crash information available from the van was limited because the data recorder was 11 years old, and had less data collection than more modern devices.

He told the coroner's jury that he doubted seatbelts, flagged as an issue by an earlier expert witness, would have saved the seven boys because of the "catastrophic" nature of the crash.

However, he said the coach's wife -- Beth Lord, 51-- would have had a good chance of survival if she had been wearing her seatbelt properly.

She wore only the shoulder strap while the lap belt was behind her and was partially ejected from the vehicle.

"There was survival space for Mrs. Lord, and she had the advantage of an airbag," he said.

Sypher said both vehicles were travelling below the speed limit.

While briefing the jury on transport rules and regulations, he said the driver of the van did not complete a daily log.

He said while Wayne Lord did not exceed the amount of driving he was allowed, he did exceed the number of on-duty hours.

The limit is 14, and it was 16 hours between the time he reported to work, and the time of the crash.

Crown Prosecutor George Chiasson spent much of the afternoon having Sypher talk about the tires on the van.

Sypher said while they were M+S tires -- or rated for mud and snow -- they should be considered an all-season tire, and not snow tires.

Earlier in the day Neilson said the tires met minimum requirements.

"But, if they had more tread and were winter tires they would have had better traction," she testified.

And Neilson said the tires may have been underinflated and that when she checked two days after the accident, one back tire only had 34 pounds per square inch of pressure.

She said it should have been inflated to 80 PSI.

The aging van had passed a safety inspection just a few months before the accident, but Sypher said it was inspected as a passenger vehicle. He said vehicles carrying more than 10 passengers qualify as a bus, and are required to be inspected under stricter guidelines as a commercial vehicle.

Testimony Friday is expected to look closer at the inspection and vehicle maintenance.

The inquest was called earlier this year to make recommendations aimed at preventing similar accidents in the future.