Firm says trees obstruct vision at intersection
A consulting firm says sight lines are a safety concern at the rural intersection where the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash happened.
A 70-page safety review done for the Saskatchewan government says a stand of trees, mostly on private property, obstructs the view of drivers approaching from the south and east - the same directions the bus and semi-trailer were coming from when they collided.
Negotiating with the landowner to remove the trees is one of 13 recommendations included in the report.
Rumble strips, larger signs and painting “Stop” and “Stop Ahead” on the road are some of the other suggestions.
Sixteen people died and 13 others were injured in the collision at an intersection north of Tisdale in April.
The bus was travelling north on Highway 35 and the semi was westbound on Highway 335.
Both roads have speed limits of 100 km/h. Highway 335 has a stop sign. Highway 35 does not.
The RCMP have charged the truck’s driver, Jaskirat Sidhu, with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily injury.
The review notes that because Sidhu’s charges are still before the court, RCMP investigators would not talk to consultants from McElhanney Consulting Services about the causes of the crash.
The report’s authors found six collisions at the intersection between 1990 and 2017 and another 14 on roads nearby.
One of those collisions was deadly. In 1997, six people were killed when a pickup truck heading east failed to stop on Highway 335 and was hit by a southbound tractor-trailer.
Those vehicles where heading in the opposite direction as the bus and truck in the Broncos crash.
The review did not find another accident with vehicles travelling west and north.
“Although there have been two multiple fatality collisions at the intersection, the location does not have a high overall frequency of collisions, including high-severity collisions,” the review concludes.
“No significant collision trends were identified at the intersection. However, the geometric design review did identify some potential safety issues that could be mitigated to further reduce the collision risk at the intersection.”