Details of December bus station mishap released
The OC Transpo driver charged in January’s fatal Westboro crash was in a previous collision a month earlier, and a newly-released accident report says she reported it occurred “real quick” as she was unable to brake in slippery conditions.
The report on the Dec. 10 crash at St. Laurent Station has now been released under an access to information request.
It describes how an articulated bus driven by Aissatou Diallo rounded a tight corner, then went into a slide, ramming a parked Transpo bus with its front end.
It says the road was dry and traffic conditions were “clear” at the time. However, it says Diallo reported road conditions as slippery. She estimated her speed was between 15 and 25 km/h.
The report gives a summary of what each driver experienced:
“The opt (operator) of 6639 stated that she was in service on a 95 e/b (eastbound) coming up the ramp at St-Laurent Station and had released her gas pedal on top of the ramp to make the left turn to local platform. She started making her left turn while hovering her foot over the brake pedal and felt the bus slide.
“She wasn’t able to stir (sic, possibly meaning ‘steer’) it out of the slide and tried to brake but the brakes were not responding.” After that, she “came in contact with bus 5060 that was laid up along the guard rail.
“She stated that the accident happened real quick.
“The opt called control and checked on the welfare of the passengers and updated control on the injuries.”
The front of the 95 bus hit the side of the parked bus square on, just behind the front wheel.
The report says the driver of the parked bus, a 14 Carlington, was walking up the aisle toward the front of the bus and didn’t see the collision because he was looking in the opposite direction. He wrote in the report: “All I felt was hard impacted (sic), then another when bus hit concrete wall.”
A diagram of the collision shows the articulated 95 bus going around most of a tight turn toward the platform and then the rear of its front section sliding sideways in a jackknife.
Five passengers were assessed by paramedics, and one was taken to Montfort Hospital to be checked, it says.
Several hurt their faces when thrown into the seats in front of them, or against other parts of the bus. Some also reported shin or thigh injuries.
The 14 bus received major damage to its right side and lesser damage to the left side. The 95 had major front-end damage.
Much of the report is redacted because it contains personal information, including medical details. tspears@postmedia.com twitter.com/TomSpears1