Via train VS City Bus = 6 fatalaties in Ottawa

[Regulator75]

http://globalnews.ca/news/847798/6-d...ide-in-ottawa/

At least six people are dead after an OC Transpo bus collided with a Via Rail train in Ottawa’s west end Wednesday morning.

Officials confirmed that five people died on scene and 31 patients were transported to hospital, 11 of whom were in critical condition.

One of the patients taken to the hospital has died. The bus driver is among the dead.

[FlamesAddiction]

Pretty freaky. It sounds like the barriers were down and for some reason the bus didn't stop despite people on board screaming for him to stop. That must have been terrifying.

[Bigtime]

Medical issue with the driver?

[Ducay]

Sounds that way possibly. Train was passing through the crossing already, and the bus simply passed a bunch of stopped cars and drove into the train.

[FlamesAddiction]

Or murder-suicide. I hope not though.

[Nage Waza]

They were certainly check for drugs and alcohol. How easy is it for a guy to fall asleep while driving? How easy is it for a device to sound an alarm if sleep is detected? My phone can detect your eyes.

[transplant99]

Hope all our Ottawa based posters are safe and sound.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Terrible news. Luckily, everyone I know is safe and sound but my thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims. Most likely to me is that this was a medical issue...first thought around the water cooler was faulty barriers but it sounds like the rest of the traffic was stopped and the barrier was down anyway. Murder - suicide was another suggestion that I had heard but I certainly hope that was not the case. Either way, the damage is done. In a way, we got lucky as the train was going slowly to stop at the station right beside that intersection. It's a bad enough situation as is and I can't imagine how bad things would have been if the train was going at full speed.

[Devils'Advocate]

Or if the train had hit the side of the bus rather than the bus hitting the train. It could have been a whole lot worse than six fatalities.

Imthink it HAD to be a medical thing... Some attack of some sort. Someone suggested that the brakes failed, but if that were the case he would have tried to swerve and go parallel with the train... Not hit it head on.

[WilderPegasus]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Sounds that way possibly. Train was passing through the crossing already, and the bus simply passed a bunch of stopped cars and drove into the train.

It didn't pass any stopped cars. It was on a buses only road.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Or if the train had hit the side of the bus rather than the bus hitting the train. It could have been a whole lot worse than six fatalities.

Imthink it HAD to be a medical thing... Some attack of some sort. Someone suggested that the brakes failed, but if that were the case he would have tried to swerve and go parallel with the train... Not hit it head on.

I doubt that brake failure was the cause. With air brakes, if the air pressure dips below a certain point (usually around 30-35 PSI), the buses brakes automatically are engaged. This is because air pressure is actually holding the brakes away from the rotors/drums. On transit buses here in Calgary, our policy is to not drive the bus if the air pressure is below 80 PSI, and on most newer buses the transmission won't engage until the pressure is over 90. I assume most other jurisdictions would have similar policies as they just make sense for safety.

I agree, it was likely a medical thing (I hope).

[Pontine]

That's horrible . Thoughts with all the families and people involved.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by WilderPegasus

It didn't pass any stopped cars. It was on a buses only road.

What's this mean then?

Eyewitness Mark Cogan was waiting in his car about four vehicles back from the railway gates on Woodroffe. Both sets of crossing barriers were down.

"Everything was down, everybody was at a standstill," Cogan said. "(The bus) went through the guard rail."

Cristina Pecora was also stopped waiting for the train to pass when she saw the bus going "way, way too quickly" towards the gates and flashing lights.

"I thought to myself - he's not stopping," the Barrhaven woman said. "Then the brake lights went on, he was trying to stop the last few seconds."

Something aint jiving.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by WilderPegasus

It didn't pass any stopped cars. It was on a buses only road.

Originally Posted by transplant99

What's this mean then?

Something aint jiving.

The busway and Woodroffe Ave are parallel but separate roadways. This is where the eyewitness was. See google maps and other mapsites.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-bus-train-crash-kills-6-in-commuting-horror-1.1858868

[OffsideSpecialist]

Here's a graphic from the Citizen that helps provide an image to people who don't know the area, and some other info. On my train rides through there, I had always wondered why there was a level crossing for a street as busy as Woodroffe.

Spoiler!

[Ironhorse]

Considering the fact that the train was going right to left, and the most sever impact on the bus is on the left (driver's) corner, I'm wondering if the bus turned towards the right (into the direction of the train) on purpose, and it was suicide by the driver. If the bus had simply hit head on, the momentum of the train would have pulled it into the other direction.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Considering the fact that the train was going right to left, and the most sever impact on the bus is on the left (driver's) corner, I'm wondering if the bus turned towards the right (into the direction of the train) on purpose, and it was suicide by the driver. If the bus had simply hit head on, the momentum of the train would have pulled it into the other direction.

The impact looks to be exactly as you would expect from a vehicle travelling straight at that intersection. It's not a 90 degree intersection.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Word on the street is that the driver was diabetic. Not sure how reliable that is or if it could have been something related.

[CaptainCrunch]

Tragic accident, and I might sound jaded about the deaths, but it could have been far worse.

Everything I've read makes me think medical issue or he fell asleep. But you never know, everyone said he was a very happy guy with a wife and young kids.

[Hatter]

There's a guy on Reddit raffling Senators tickets to people who donate blood in the wake of this tragedy. Not very applicable here, as most of us are Albertan, but can perhaps serve as a reminder to those of us who haven't donated in quite a while.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comme...please/ccaqult