Alberta university rugby team buckling up for the Broncos

LETHBRIDGE The head coach of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s rugby team says he’s making it a habit to wear his seatbelt on the team’s bus. Other coaches and at least half of the players on his team are also buckling up.

“We haven’t made it policy so we haven’t forced anybody,” said Neil Langevin.

Langevin said his decision was clear after speaking to his friend and the team’s manager, Toby Boulet, who has made a point of wearing his seatbelt on the bus this season.

Boulet’s son, Logan, was one of 16 people who died after a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team collided with a semitruck in rural Saskatchewan in April. Thirteen others were injured.

The parents of two other players who died have also called for mandatory seatbelt use on buses since the crash.

A lawsuit filed by the parents of Adam Herold in July asked for a court order requiring all buses carrying sports teams in Saskatchewan to be equipped with seatbelts.

Earlier this month, the mother of Stephen Wack wrote an opinion piece that ran in newspapers across the country asking for shoulder harness belts on all coach buses, along with the need for legislation making it compulsory to wear those seatbelts.

“If the wearing of shoulder belts on coach buses can be implemented successfully in the U.K. and some other European countries, then I believe that we, as Canadians, are capable of accomplishing the same,” Tricia Wack said in an email.

Officials with Hockey Canada said they haven’t brought in any changes for this season.

Transport Canada announced in June that the department will require all newly built highway buses to have seatbelts by September 2020.