Inquest begins into deadly 2019 bus crash
Collision at Westboro bus station injured dozens, sparked safety concerns
The horrific 2019 bus crash that left three Ottawa commuters dead, injured more than 30 other passengers, sparked a flurry of lawsuits, triggered a criminal trial that ended in the acquittal of the bus driver — and ultimately raised questions about bus safety in the city — is now back under the microscope.
On Jan. 11, 2019, an OC Transpo double-decker carrying 85 passengers slammed into the steel overhang of the Westboro transitway bus shelter.
Area resident Len Tucker remembers staring down at the chaotic site.
"There [were] stretchers ... you see the bus damaged, you see the roof.... You knew it was catastrophic," Tucker, the current chair of the Westboro Community Association, recalled to CBC earlier this week.
Bruce Thomlinson, Judy Booth and Anja Van Beek — all public servants seated on the bus's top deck — died as a result of the collision.
Amid a string of lawsuits filed by survivors and grieving families, the city accepted civil responsibility for the crash and has so far paid out nearly $30 million in two dozen settlements.
The driver, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with dangerous driving causing death. Criminal charges against the city were not warranted, according to police.
The judge in Diallo's case, citing factors such as confusing road markings and the glaring sun, said to convict her would be "to cast the net far too wide" and found her not guilty.
Players at the inquest table
While not a trial or a process meant to assign any legal blame, the inquest will cast a fresh layer of scrutiny on the circumstances of the crash.
Laura Shantz, a board member with the advocacy group Ottawa Transit Riders, is glad to see that.
"In the trial, it really appeared the city and OC Transpo were making [Diallo] stand all by herself as the sole person responsible," Shantz said. "It was really, in my mind, quite distasteful that there wasn't more of a global what-happened."
Diallo's trial heard she had only been on the job for about six months.
One month before the Westboro crash, Diallo was involved in a separate, albeit less serious, collision.
Even before the trial, Diallo faced racist, misogynistic and "horrible jokes about women drivers," Shantz said. "I feel very bad that she had to endure that."
Both the city and the Amalgamated Transit Union local that represents employees of OC Transpo will be represented at the inquest. So will the families of two of the passengers who died, according to the city.
Each party will get to question inquest witnesses. It's unclear if Diallo — who did not testify at her trial — will be a witness at the inquest.
A jury of five civilians will be asked to hear the testimony and consider making recommendations for how to prevent a tragedy like the Westboro crash from happening again.
Double-deckers are still in use in Ottawa, including at the street-level bus shelters at Westboro station.
The station's transitway and surface are currently under construction. They're being readied for the westward expansion of Ottawa's Line 1 LRT service.
The inquest is expected to last four weeks and, like Diallo's COVID-era trial, is taking place virtually.
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