Terrible bus/train accident claims 6 lives

The driver of the bus is one of the five dead. More info here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/via-train-ottawa-bus-collision-causes-multiple-deaths-1.1858868

Per 580 CFRA's Twitter:

31 patients transported to local hospitals, 11 critical. 4 Q-Carleton, 4 civic, 6 general, 17 Montfort (less critical). 6 deaths.

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh, I think the driver of that bus was either suicidal or had a heart attack or fell asleep.  There's something rotten in Denmark here.  As you said, there were people yelling at him to stop and he just kept going.  Who does that?

you don't want to go there unless you have to. it's got to be another option

Does it? Who knows...

We may never know what truly happened to the driver. Do OC Transpo buses have cameras in them? Even if they do, the storage device for the camera could likely be damaged beyond repair.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh, I think the driver of that bus was either suicidal or had a heart attack or fell asleep.  There's something rotten in Denmark here.  As you said, there were people yelling at him to stop and he just kept going.  Who does that?

you don't want to go there unless you have to. it's got to be another option

Does it?  Who knows...

I just heard that one person who was on the bus says the driver did attempt to stop when he realized, too late, that the train was coming.

Ottawa's on CNN's homepage!

They will probably report that it's a te****ist attack

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh, I think the driver of that bus was either suicidal or had a heart attack or fell asleep.  There's something rotten in Denmark here.  As you said, there were people yelling at him to stop and he just kept going.  Who does that?

you don't want to go there unless you have to. it's got to be another option

Does it?  Who knows...

I just heard that one person who was on the bus says the driver did attempt to stop when he realized, too late, that the train was coming.

The gate was down and the lights flashing. How do you "realize too late"? I've crossed that intersection dozens of times, and was stopped at it 2 or 3 times. The gate comes down quite a bit ahead of the train, so it must have been down for a while *before* the bus crashed through it.

wprager wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh, I think the driver of that bus was either suicidal or had a heart attack or fell asleep.  There's something rotten in Denmark here.  As you said, there were people yelling at him to stop and he just kept going.  Who does that?

you don't want to go there unless you have to. it's got to be another option

Does it?  Who knows...

I just heard that one person who was on the bus says the driver did attempt to stop when he realized, too late, that the train was coming.

The gate was down and the lights flashing.  How do you "realize too late"?  I've crossed that intersection dozens of times, and was stopped at it 2 or 3 times.  The gate comes down quite a bit ahead of the train, so it must have been down for a while *before* the bus crashed through it.

I wasn't there. All I have to go on is what various eyewitnesses are saying.

It doesn't really seem to add up when the entire bus load are screaming at him to stop though does it?

Cousin was there, said there was a body absolutely decapitated. Word is coming out the bus driver was increasing his speed as he he approached the tracks so he could be at full speed when he hit the transit way. OC Transpo has a lot of explaining to do in the midst of this horrible accident.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:It doesn't really seem to add up when the entire bus load are screaming at him to stop though does it?

You can only really assign logic to an accident like this through hindsight and painstaking investigation and even then it won't make total sense.

It's been a terrible day. My fiance was on the double decker bus that collided with the train. She escaped unharmed, but she's distraught. She was wondering why the bus driver didn't slow down. Apparently he did put on the brakes but it was too late. What really hits me is if the brakes weren't even put on, the damage could have been worse.

R.I.P. to the victims

Michallica wrote:It's been a terrible day.  My fiance was on the double decker bus that collided with the train.  She escaped unharmed, but she's distraught.  She was wondering why the bus driver didn't slow down.  Apparently he did put on the brakes but it was too late.  What really hits me is if the brakes weren't even put on, the damage could have been worse.

R.I.P. to the victims

Glad she's safe but I bet there will be some healing to do for sure.

F***ed up...

Michallica wrote:It's been a terrible day.  My fiance was on the double decker bus that collided with the train.  She escaped unharmed, but she's distraught.  She was wondering why the bus driver didn't slow down.  Apparently he did put on the brakes but it was too late.  What really hits me is if the brakes weren't even put on, the damage could have been worse.

R.I.P. to the victims

Wow....glad she's safe. You should covet her right now, that's scary, scary, scary.

wprager wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh, I think the driver of that bus was either suicidal or had a heart attack or fell asleep.  There's something rotten in Denmark here.  As you said, there were people yelling at him to stop and he just kept going.  Who does that?

you don't want to go there unless you have to. it's got to be another option

Does it?  Who knows...

I just heard that one person who was on the bus says the driver did attempt to stop when he realized, too late, that the train was coming.

The gate was down and the lights flashing.  How do you "realize too late"?  I've crossed that intersection dozens of times, and was stopped at it 2 or 3 times.  The gate comes down quite a bit ahead of the train, so it must have been down for a while *before* the bus crashed through it.

Agree with that. I live in Barrhaven.. Before retirement, I travelled that transitway every weekday for many years. There is a left handed curve before the tracks... but there is an unobstructed view. I don't see how the driver could not see the train coming. He would be looking right at it as he went around the curve.. Something had to have happened.. ie failed brakes or something else. That gate does come quite a while before the train gets across... The train is going about 10 miles an hour. The buses are doing about 60 when they get to the tracks... or are supposed to. He tried to stop... not enough time. As bad as it is.. it could have been a lot worse.

So tragic. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families...

I wondered if glare had a hand in this. I was driving my kid to school this morning (earlier, though) and the sun was absolutely brutal. If I understand the location of the crash (this is not the level crossing on Fallowfield, but on the transit way itself, a bit north/north-west of the Fallowfield crossing. The transitway points roughly NNW, so at 8:45AM the Sun would have been behind and to the right of the bus:

http://suncalc.net/#/45.3028,-75.734,16/2013.09.18/08:45

I could see the sun being in the eyes of the drivers going South (from downtown), but not the other way. Maybe there was indirect glare reflected from a bus heading the other way?

Again, this is just hearsay but like a lot of other drivers when they come around the bend before the tracks they pick up speed before they hit the transit way and he could have very well done this out of habit and picked up enough speed where he couldn't slow down. Anyways, it doesn't really matter, 6 people lost their lives.