'It's the call you don't want,' says crashed DRL bus manager Jason Roberts
The manager of the company that owns the charter bus that left the road and flipped on its side near Grand Falls-Windsor Thursday night says it appears weather conditions were a factor in the mishap.
Jason Roberts, the manager of Triton-based DRL Coachlines, said the driver of the bus was very experienced, and had a good safety record.
"It's the call that you don't want," said Roberts, adding he's very relieved there weren't any serious injuries or deaths.
DRL operates the trans-island passenger motor coach service between St. John's and Port aux Basques, and also charters its buses to groups.
It was a bus chartered by the Silver Blades skating club of Corner Brook, carrying 55 passengers, that was involved in Thursday's incident.
The bus was travelling to Clarenville, site of this weekend's provincial synchronized skating championships, when it overturned.
Here's how Roberts described his phone conversation with the driver just minutes after the accident.
"His words was he was just going along and the conditions changed from snow to some snow with rain, and he said he was doing his normal thing — he's a very seasoned driver — and he felt she wouldn't answer on the front wheels and then he could feel the back of her coming around. So that's where it was," said Roberts.
There were injuries, but officials say they were all were minor, with two patients airlifted to St. John's for further treatment.
Most of the passengers were youth between the ages of 8 and 18, according to Skate Canada NL.
Travelled a day earlier
Roberts said the driver sustained a back injury and some bruises, but was able to assist the passengers.
One of the questions being asked is why the bus was on the road at night, with weather warnings in the forecast.
"If you ask the question, should they be on the road? If someone knows the answer, let me know because we do make judgment calls the best we can in conjunction with the driver. The driver is the ultimate to say go or not," said Roberts.
Roberts said the decision was made to travel a day earlier because of impending weather on Friday.
When asked if the right call was made on Thursday, Roberts replied:
"I guess that's a big question. We travel 965 kilometres each day from St. John's to Port aux Basques. And I can say this very clearly. There's days when you don't know what you should do because the weather is good in central, it's windy on the east coast, it's snowing on the west coast. Where do you start and where do you stop? And where do you let people get on and get off?" he said.
"The big thing is it's the driver's discretion when he should should stop if conditions are not what he feels comfortable with."
Relieved it wasn't worse
Roberts could not say how fast the bus was travelling, but said the fact the bus rolled on its side is an indication that it was moving at a reduced speed.
"If you were going the normal speed limit and you go around the road like that, you would more than likely go on the roof to the other side. That's what I'm looking at," he said.
He said DRL buses have a good safety record, and have not had a serious incident in about 12 years.
Roberts said he knew the day might come when a DRL motor coach filled with passengers would be involved in a serious incident, but that doesn't make it any easier.