Coroner's report provides context in fatal UVic bus crash

UVic makes changes following review of bus crash The University of Victoria is making changes to its field trip policies following a review of a tragic bus crash that occurred last year.

Victoria — The BC Coroner's Service is shedding light on the deaths of two young University of Victoria students after the bus they were travelling in rolled over on its way to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in 2019.

The crash took place on Sept. 13, 2019, during a school field trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Around 9 p.m., the bus was travelling along a 76-kilometre stretch of gravel road that is "narrow in many parts," according to the coroners service.

The report adds that there is no lighting, curbs or road markings on the road. The bus is believed to have turned to the right along the road to allow an approaching vehicle to pass. Soon after, the "bus sunk into the soft shoulder causing the centre of mass for the bus to roll over, down an embankment."

Forty-five UVic students and two teaching assistants were on board the bus when it flipped. Two 18-year-old students, Emma Machado of Winnipeg and John Geerdes of Iowa, were ejected from the vehicle during the crash and died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the coroner.

The report says that while the chartered bus was equipped with seatbelts, the seatbelts were not worn by students, nor was their use enforced.

"The use of seatbelts on coach buses is not consistently regulated across Canada and Transport Canada is currently reviewing the national laws," says the coroners service.

The report notes that the area where the crash occurred was wide enough to allow both vehicles to pass in opposite directions. The speed and condition of the bus are not believed to be factors in the crash.

After the crash occurred, UVic launched an independent review into the circumstances of the crash.

That report was released in June 2020 and included a range of recommendations which UVic has agreed to implement.

The recommendations include travelling only during daylight hours, bringing safety equipment such as first aid kits and satellite communication devices, and the mandatory use of seatbelts.

In September, the province and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation announced that they would be spending more than $30 million to upgrade the gravel logging road between Bamfield and Port Alberni.

The Huu-ay-aht First Nation has long called for upgrades to the roadway, where six other fatal crashes have occurred since 1987. Between 2010 and 2019, 25 crashes that caused injury also occurred.

Coroners have ruled that both Machado and Geerdes deaths were accidental.