Latest news with #JudyBooth
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
City outlines next steps on driver cameras and other bus crash inquest recommendations
The City of Ottawa says it will examine the potential installation of driver-facing cameras on OC Transpo buses, following a recommendation from a recent coroner's inquest into a fatal 2019 bus crash. The nearly month-long inquest in April delved into the circumstances of a packed double-decker bus slamming into a Transitway shelter on Jan. 11, 2019. Three passengers — Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anja Van Beek — died in the crash and many others were injured. While the city accepted civil responsibility, the driver, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with 38 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm. She was acquitted of all charges in a judge-only trial in 2021. Diallo did not testify at either the inquest or her trial, but an OC Transpo official told the inquest that if a driver-facing camera had been on board Diallo's bus, more would be known about her actions in the lead-up to the crash. The jurors ultimately issued 60 non-binding recommendations, two-thirds of which were directed at the city. They included a call for Ottawa to "install operator-facing cameras on all OC Transpo buses to be used for safety purposes." "This data should be regularly tracked by an accountable member of the governance team," the jurors added. Adjusting current cameras The city has now provided its initial response to the recommendations, with "a comprehensive status update and action plan" to follow later this year. City staff agree with the idea of operator-facing cameras on all OC Transpo buses, adding that "a robust policy/program will be developed" similar to the one that already exists for cameras on OC Transpo's federally regulated LRT line. But installing cameras could bring "significant budgetary pressures," the city warned councillors ahead of the next meeting of Ottawa's transit committee on Thursday. "In order to develop a response to this recommendation, research will need to be completed, a robust policy must be drafted, all relevant stakeholders and unions must be consulted, and a technical analysis ... will need to be undertaken. Once all of these steps have been completed, the costs can be presented for consideration through the budget process," the city said. One option, according to the city's initial response to the recommendations, could involve adjusting existing CCTV cameras on all buses purchased since 2016 so that they offer a wide-angle view that would include the driver. Just over 350 of the buses in OC Transpo's fleet currently have CCTV cameras, the city clarified with CBC via email, while the remaining 382 buses do not have onboard cameras. "Staff are currently assessing the feasibility of utilizing the current CCTV camera system to address the inquest recommendation or determine if a new camera system is required," according to the city's email. Union concerns Cost aside, the notion of driver-facing cameras on buses has sparked privacy concerns with the local union representing OC Transpo drivers. When lawyers made their final pitches to the inquest jury, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 was the only group to oppose driver-facing cameras on buses. However, in an interview with Ottawa Morning the day after the jury issued its recommendations, ATU Local 279 President Noah Vineberg clarified the union's position. "Privacy always becomes an issue, but that does not trump safety," Vineberg said. "As long as [the use of camera footage is] properly monitored, as long as there's an agreement in place on how those systems are going to be used, and if it's in the lens of safety ... then ATU 279 doesn't stand in the way." The city said its plan "will ensure appropriate protections for employees' privacy." Consultations on LRT cameras took several years, the union's lawyer told the inquest. Negotiations on a new contract for OC Transpo drivers have begun and have involved discussion of video footage, Vineberg said via email. More days of retraining The inquest jury also recommended that a portion of OC Transpo's bus fleet be dedicated to training drivers. City staff said they support this idea in principle but that given the current shortage of buses, the recommendation can't reasonably be implemented without significant impacts to service. "It is expected that a stable, reliable fleet will not be fully available until Q4 2027," according to the city's response to the recommendations. The inquest heard that after she was involved in a preventable and serious collision in December 2018, Diallo received only one day of refresher training before being put back on the road. Within a week, she was involved in the fatal Transitway crash. "How quickly after a previous incident she was back behind the wheel — that was really kind of astonishing to me," said Laura Shantz, a member of the advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders. The jury recommended the city establish a separate evaluation procedure for probationary operators involved in serious preventable collisions, and that before the driver returns to service they receive a minimum of five days of retraining. Aspects of this recommendation are currently in place, according to the city, but staff will review the recommendation and report back to the transit committee later this year. The committee will meet Thursday to discuss the city's initial inquest response and other agenda items starting at 9:30 a.m.
Ottawa Citizen
01-05-2025
- Ottawa Citizen
Westboro bus crash inquest calls on OC Transpo to apply 'safety lens' to decisions
An inquest jury has called on OC Transpo to filter every decision about buses, infrastructure and training through a 'safety lens' to protect passengers from the kind of accident that killed three people in January 2019. Article content Article content It was one of 60 recommendations the five-person jury issued Thursday at the conclusion of the month-long inquest into the Westboro bus crash. Article content Article content The jury also recommended OC Transpo install driver-facing cameras on all buses (to ensure drivers are not distracted by phones or other devices), assess new drivers for proficiency on double-decker and articulated buses, conduct annual safety inspections of the Transitway to identify potential hazards, and dramatically improve retraining for probationary drivers involved in serious, preventable collisions. Article content Article content The jury further recommended OC Transpo reduce to 30 km/hr the speed at which buses approach Transitway stations until it removes or modifies bus shelter canopies at seven stations, or constructs barriers in front them to deflect wayward buses. Article content A similar, rigid shelter canopy at Westboro Station cut into the second deck of Bus 8155 on Jan. 11, 2019 with devastating results. Article content Article content Article content The jury was tasked with investigating the circumstances that led to the deaths of three passengers – Bruce Thomlinson, 56, Judy Booth, 57, and Anja Van Beek, 65 – and making recommendations to prevent similar deaths. Article content Inquest juries are prohibited from assigning blame, and their recommendations are not binding on the organizations involved. Article content City of Ottawa lawyer Anne Tardif said OC Transpo has embraced a safety culture during the past six years. 'Put simply,' she told jurors during the inquest, 'OC Transpo is not the same organization today that it was in 2019.' Article content OC Transpo, she said, has introduced a chief safety officer, a data-based analysis of driver performance, and a new screening process to weed out driver applicants with unsuitable psychological profiles. Article content The transit service has also increased the amount of time trainees receive behind the wheel of double-decker and articulated buses, she said. Trainees now receive a minimum of eight hours of road training on both double-deckers and articulated buses. In the past, drivers received as little as two hours of such specialized training.
CBC
01-05-2025
- CBC
Jury urges driver-facing cameras at end of OC Transpo bus crash inquest
The jury at the coroner's inquest into the fatal 2019 OC Transpo bus crash has issued dozens of recommendations for preventing similar tragic accidents — everything from driver-facing cameras on all Ottawa buses to requiring more time for retraining drivers involved in on-duty collisions. The 60 prompts for change also cover Transitway speed limits and maintenance. The jury's recommendations are not binding, but they do also include a call for government funding to make them a reality. They were delivered on Thursday afternoon, the 19th day of an exhaustive deep dive into the events and fallout of Jan. 11, 2019. On that afternoon, a packed OC Transpo double-decker slammed into a Transitway bus shelter at Westboro station. Three people — Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anja Van Beek — died in the crash and many others were injured. While the city accepted civil responsibility, the driver, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with 38 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm. She was acquitted of all charges in a judge-only trial in 2021. The fact-finding (as opposed to fault-finding) inquest homed in on a number of areas including tightened driver training and recruitment, the already-numbered days of double-deckers in Ottawa, and the knotty issue of how the city designs routes and OC Transpo drivers book their work. The inquest heard that booking is a seniority-based system that can result in less-experienced drivers like Diallo driving double-deckers, though there was disagreement about whether those larger buses are in fact harder to handle than single-deckers. Jurors also heard that the Westboro collision was "unique and so unusual" in its circumstances. The jurors ultimately did not issue recommendations on the booking system. The Thomlinson and Booth families, as well as lawyers representing the city, the union for OC Transpo drivers and the coroner's office, made their own pitches for change to the jury last week. But while the jury of five Ottawa-area civilians could consider those suggestions, the final list of recommendations was up to the jurors. Some of their recommendations to OC Transpo touched on the following areas: Driver monitoring and safety Installing driver-facing cameras on all buses, a move the union opposes. Closer monitoring of drivers who get in an on-duty collision and undergo refresher training. A separate evaluation procedure for probationary operators following a serious preventable collision. Before those drivers return to service, they must undergo a minimum of five days of retraining. The inquest heard that Diallo only underwent one day of retraining after crashing a bus one month before the Westboro collision. Increasing checks on driver licence abstracts from twice a month to daily. Transitway and bus design Temporarily reducing the speed of buses approaching stations on the Transitway to 30 kilometres an hour. Once that's done, removing or replacing canopies with a narrow lateral offset from the curb (as was the case at Westboro station), as well as installing tapered concrete barriers or other forms of guardrail. Regularly inspecting the Transitway for safety hazards. Making sure remnants of Transitway construction — like the orange lines that some have argued may have been a distraction to Diallo — are properly removed. Ensuring the "appropriate" removal of snow on the road leading to Transitway stations. The ditch on the day of the Westboro collision was icy and snow-packed. Calling on the city and the manufacturer of the double-decker involved in the Westboro crash to study the effectiveness of barriers at the front upper deck of buses to prevent passenger ejections during collisions. Training More one-on-one time between experienced drivers and recruits undergoing OC Transpo's New Bus Operator Training (NBOT) program. A dedicated fleet of buses for training purposes to help ensure recruits get adequate time on all bus types in spite of fleet availability issues. Enhanced new driver training on emergency braking and the existing prohibition on cell phone use while driving. Accident oversight Having the federal government consider making the Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigate serious bus transit collisions that involve deaths. The entire list of recommendations can be viewed here. The jurors also declared the Westboro crash an accident. Other choices included homicide, natural causes and suicide. The city said at the outset of the inquest that it would not be commenting while the process was on but that, after recommendations were made, it would report back to city councillors. The inquest comes at a key moment for the city and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279, which represents OC Transpo bus drivers. Their last collective agreement expired at the end of March, and negotiations on a new contract are expected to begin soon.
Global News
28-04-2025
- Global News
Coroner's jury begins considering recommendations in Ottawa bus crash inquest
A coroner's inquest into a fatal Ottawa bus crash in 2019 is coming to a close as the jury begins considering recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future. The inquest is examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anthonia Van Beek. All three died after a double-decker bus operated by OC Transpo hopped a curb and struck a shelter at the Westboro transit station on Jan. 11, 2019. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The jury heard evidence over the last three weeks from many witnesses, including transit safety experts and officials from Transport Canada, the Ontario transportation ministry and the City of Ottawa. Various parties in the inquest made their final submissions on Friday, and the jury received their deliberation instructions from the presiding officer this morning. Coroner's inquest juries do not assign blame or make findings of legal responsibility in a case, but they are expected to determine how the deaths occurred and may make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths. Story continues below advertisement
CBC
26-04-2025
- CBC
Inquest closing remarks reveal rifts in how to make OC Transpo safer
The inquest will resume on Monday, April 28, at 9:30 a.m. Stream it live here. Not everyone at the coroner's inquest into the fatal OC Transpo bus crash of 2019 agrees on all of the ideas pitched for making bus riding in Ottawa safer, as the public deep dive's closing remarks made clear on Friday. In particular, the issues of driver-facing cameras, reducing the speed limit for buses approaching Transitway stations, the decades-old procedure for scheduling OC Transpo bus drivers, and potentially allowing the city to intervene during the driver booking process if it has safety concerns, exposed the dividing lines in an inquest meant to prevent similar tragedies in the future. On Jan. 11, 2019, a packed double-decker bus slammed into a shelter canopy at Westboro station. Three passengers — Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anja Van Beek — died in the crash, while many other riders were injured. While the city accepted civil responsibility, the driver, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with 38 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm. She was acquitted of all charges in a judge-only trial in 2021. At the inquest over the last three weeks, a jury of five Ottawa-area civilians heard emotionally and technically challenging testimony from 20 witnesses. It will be up to the jurors to issue recommendations to prevent future collisions, after the presiding coroner gives her instructions on Monday morning. But on Friday, the Thomlinson and Booth families, as well as lawyers representing the city, the union for OC Transpo drivers, and the coroner's office (known as "inquest counsel"), made their own pitches for change to the jury. Here's where those groups are aligned — and not. What they agree on All the groups supported measures meant to tighten the refresher training OC Transpo drivers receive after being in an on-duty collision. The inquest has heard that only one month before the fatal Westboro crash, in December 2018, Diallo was at the wheel of an articulated 60-foot bus when it careened into a parked bus at St. Laurent station. Diallo was found to be at fault and was placed on a three-week investigatory leave. She was ultimately dubbed a "low risk" driver, was paired with a very experienced instructor, and received only one day of refresher training before being cleared to go back behind the wheel of a bus. The manager who approved Diallo to return to work testified that if a situation like it happened today, "it's probably best that we part ways with the employee and not look at remedial training." One of the recommendations suggested Friday called for more monitoring of drivers who get refresher training. That might include the use of telematics — GPS technology that relays information about a driver's performance in real time. Another recommendation would require refresher training to last a minimum of five days for probationary drivers involved in serious, preventable collisions. Everyone also agreed newly trained bus operators need more one-on-one time with more experienced drivers, and that a dedicated fleet of buses for training would help ensure drivers get adequate training on all bus types. What the city takes issue with As Diallo approached the Westboro shelter canopy from about 69 metres away, she was travelling between 58 km/hr and 60 km/hr, slightly over the 50 km/hr limit, according to a narrative of the crash filed at the inquest. On Friday, the jurors were asked to consider a recommendation that would temporarily reduce the speed limit to 30 km/hr for buses approaching four Transitway bus stations: Billings Bridge, Greenboro, South Keys and Lincoln Fields. Those locations were selected because they have canopies similar to Westboro station (which is currently decommissioned because of LRT construction), and because they have a "lateral offset" of less than three metres between the canopy and the curb face. The offset at Westboro was less than one metre, while three metres is the current guideline in Ontario. The speed reduction would get lifted depending on the results of an audit looking at the "safety benefit" of removing the canopies altogether, according to the suggested recommendation. The inquest already prompted the city to place safety striping on the canopy at Lincoln Fields, as it did at Westboro following the crash, after having failed to do so years before. Inquest counsel and the victims' families supported that recommendation while the union took no position. The city opposed it. Anne Tardif, one of the lawyers representing the city, said there was no evidence those canopies pose a risk, noting that three of the locations have lateral offsets that one engineer told the inquest were "desirable." Under another recommendation, the speed limit for approaching buses elsewhere on the Transitway would be reduced to anywhere from 30 km/hr to 40 km/hr. The city didn't oppose this suggestion, but Tardif pointed to a road vehicle safety expert's testimony that even if Diallo have been driving 50 km/hr, she would only have had about one second more of reaction time and would likely have still struck the canopy. "That's not a lot of time," she said. What the union opposes The inquest comes at a key moment for the city and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279, which represents OC Transpo bus drivers. Their last collective agreement expired at the end of March and negotiations on a new contract will begin after the inquest wraps. The inquest heard about the seniority system that results in senior drivers getting first dibs on shift selection, which leaves newer drivers with fewer options — or what one official at the city called "crumbs." In his closing remarks on Friday, the lawyer representing ATU 279, John McLuckie, spoke out against proposals he described as "disruptions" to the seniority system, which he said is the industry standard. He also criticized suggested steps toward restricting what type of buses newer operators could drive. McLuckie was referring to a thorny multi-part recommendation calling for a review of the driver scheduling process. Among other things, the review would consider whether the city should be allowed to step into the scheduling process following a collision or if it identifies "a safety-related performance issue." The review would also contemplate allowing the city to intervene specifically in the scheduling of new bus operators who are still within their nine months of probation, as Diallo was. That latter intervention would depend on the outcome of another proposed recommendation: an analysis of collisions to determine if new bus operators, or specific bus types and routes, pose an "elevated risk." "Restricting access to the buses doesn't make sense based on the training that the operators have," McLuckie said, noting that trainees these days receive a mandated number of hours on each bus type. As well, given that OC Transpo's fleet is in what McLuckie called a "maintenance crisis", which can make some bus types harder to allocate, adding driver restrictions into the mix would make the system "unworkable," he said. There's also no evidence that Diallo — who ultimately did not testify at the inquest — ever expressed any discomfort about driving a double-decker or ever sought any additional training on them, McLuckie said. McLuckie instead championed another element of that multi-pronged recommendation: reducing the amount of interlining at OC Transpo. That's the practice of making drivers do various routes in one shift, instead of getting familiar with a dedicated route. He also said it's in the power of the city — which designs the work drivers chose from — to make it easier for drivers to be able to book two consecutive days off. "It's a question of money, it's a question of cost, and it's a question of efficiency of the service that the city doesn't want to give up," McLuckie said. Driver-facing cameras and other proposed recommendations The bus that crashed into the Westboro station canopy was equipped with GPS technology; that's how the inquest was able to dissect Diallo's speeds on a second-to-second basis. But the bus was not equipped with a driver-facing camera and that remains the case for all OC Transpo buses, though the inquest is seeking to change that. Under another of the proposed recommendations — supported by everyone except the union — the city would install such cameras on all buses in the fleet. They're to be used for "safety purposes" while also "ensuring appropriate protections for employees' privacy," a nod to the union's concerns about "Big Brother" abuses. Ken Gordon, a training and development manager at OC Transpo who is currently on leave, was among the city officials who strongly endorsed the move. "I've been involved in incidents where operators are getting into bad collisions ... and they say, 'The person just came out of nowhere or the bus didn't operate right,' and we review the footage from the bus and ... you can see the driver was texting on his cell phone in his lap rather than looking out the window," Gordon testified. McLuckie said drivers' concerns about privacy need to be addressed through robust consultation. Some of the other recommendations pitched on Friday include: Assessing all Transitway bus routes for potential "intrusion hazards" to double-deckers. (All the parties agreed except for the union, which took no position.) Making sure remnants of Transitway construction — including the orange lines that some have argued may have been a distraction to Diallo — are properly taken care of. (Supported by all parties.) New driver training that emphasizes emergency braking and the prohibition on cell phone use while driving. (Supported by all parties.) Increasing checks on driver licence abstracts from twice a month to daily. (Supported by inquest council, the city and the Thomlinson family. The Booth family and the union took no position.) Calling on the city and the maker of the double-decker involved in the Westboro crash to study "the effectiveness of barriers at the front upper deck of buses [to prevent] passenger ejections during collisions." (Supported by inquest council and the Thomlinson family. No position taken by the city, the union nor the Booth family.) Having the federal government consider making the Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigate serious bus transit collisions that involve deaths. (Supported by the Booth and Thomlinson families and inquest counsel. The city and the union took no position.) Whatever recommendations the jurors adopt — or draw up themselves — they will not be binding. Though, the parties on Friday also asked that all levels of government commit funding to make them a reality. The jurors also heard a painful call from the wife of Bruce Thomlinson, one of the three people who died in the Westboro crash. She said inquests need to happen sooner to the events they dredge up. "I have found the inquest process emotionally draining, retraumatizing and upsetting," Elaine Thomlinson told the jury. "To be re-examining the evidence, after having attempted to move forward in my life in some way, has not been easy." The inquest resumes Monday morning.
