B.C. to review use of 15-passenger vans in schools

B.C. Education Minister Shirley Bond ordered a review of the use of 15-passenger vans to transport students in the province after a deadly crash in Bathurst, N.B., killed seven students and a teacher Saturday.

For now, school boards will continue to make their own decisions about using the vans and the government has no plan to ban such vehicles, which are currently prohibited in American schools, Bond said on Tuesday.

"It's important for us to wait for the results of the studies and the investigations that are done regarding the accident," Bond told CBC News.

"Those situations impact all of us so I've asked my staff to look at current policy, to look at current practice and use, and to have a discussion with school districts across the province about how and when those vans are utilized," she said.

The 1997 Ford Club Wagon the New Brunswick students were travelling in is one of several large vans that the U.S. no longer permits schools to purchase or lease.

According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Ford Club Wagon and several other similar large vans are prone to fishtailing and can easily lose control at highway speeds.

In Canada, Alberta and Nova Scotia have restricted their use, but they're still being used in B.C.

The New Brunswick crash is a "real wake-up call" and staff has been asked to review the use of the vans, Vancouver School Board trustee Ken Denike said on Tuesday, but there's no plan for an interim ban.

Collingwood School, a private school in West Vancouver that uses 15-passenger vans, sent out a note to parents Tuesday, assuring them its vehicles are safe and its drivers are fully trained.

At least three public schools in Vancouver — Prince of Wales Secondary School, Vancouver Technical Secondary School and Killarney Secondary School — use 15-passenger vans for field trips and transporting teams to games.

"There's difficulty here," Denike told CBC News. "You could in fact say 'No field trips' or whatever, but you don't want to do that."

Meanwhile, the B.C. Federation of Labour said a similar van was carrying victims of a deadly crash near Abbotsford, B.C., last March.

Three people were killed and several others seriously injured after the van carrying 17 farm workers rolled over on Highway 1.

The federation is calling on the provincial government to immediately ban the use of 15-passenger vans to transport students and farm workers, saying, "it's a matter of life and death."