Bathurst coroner's jury advises limiting winter travel for sports

The five-person coroner's jury investigating the Bathurst, N.B., van crash that killed seven high school basketball players and the coach's wife has delivered 24 recommendations.

The coroner's jury released its recommendations in a Bathurst courtroom on Thursday afternoon.

Ana Acevedo and Isabelle Hains, two mothers who lost their sons in the van crash and who pushed for the inquest to be held, told reporters after the jury released its findings that the recommendations are proof their fight was necessary.

"We did all this work because we want children to be safe," said Acevedo.

The mothers said they will not stop until all of the recommendations, which are non-binding on the government, are implemented.

Among the recommendations, the jury is calling for:

• Contingency kits (including air mattresses, bedding) to be kept at schools in case of bad weather so students can stay overnight. Schools should be prepared to house a visiting team.
• Travelling teams to be equipped with binders with information about hotels and phone numbers for school officials.
• Class 2 driver's licences, with specific approval for driving school buses and using air brakes, be required for all drivers transporting students.
• A law that would ban student travel in bad weather. If there is a storm alert, the game should be cancelled. If the weather changes at the destination, students must stay overnight.
• External audits for two education department policies on school transportation.
• Effort from schools and New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletics Association to develop better schedules that account for winter travel.
• The Department of Education to take full responsibility for student travel.
• A ban on 15- and seven-passenger vans transporting students. Only yellow school buses or multi-function activity vehicles to be used for travel.
• All vehicles transporting students to have winter tires.
• Minimum standard tread depth to be raised to a minimum of 4/32 of an inch and tread depth to be measured across the full width of the tread. Clients to be advised with a written recommendation that their tires are nearing replacement.
• Those driving students not to be on the road for more than 14 hours.
• A system to reprimand those who fail to follow student transportation policies.
• No edge drops between the highway and shoulder.
• Province to pay for maintenance and drivers for extracurricular vehicles, not student councils.
• Activity organizing committees to have parent participation.
• Principal and vice-principal to make decisions to travel and cancel trips.
• Itineraries for trips to be submitted in advance.
• On bad nights, all available assets to be used to clear roads.
• Road conditions to be reported immediately to road supervisor.
• All student policies to be signed by staff and administration.
• Schools to strictly adhere to all current policies.
• Transportation procedures from School District 15 to become standard for all schools.
• The Department of Transportation to repair the road shoulder on Highway 11.
• The registrar of motor vehicles to advise all licensees that 15-passenger vans are to be inspected every six months.

Dale Branch, who lost his son Codey in the accident, said he was satisfied with the recommendations.

"Hopefully, through this, this does not happen to another family again," he said.

Some of the parents, like Chris Quinn, who lost his son Nickolas in the accident, said they felt relieved the inquest has ended.

"To me it's important to move on. Let's remember these children, who they were. Yes, we have to remember how they died. Yes, we have to work to try and prevent it from happening again," Quinn said.

"However, it is time to step forward. I think these recommendations will help us to do that."

The coroner's jury made 21 recommendations, while the chief coroner added three recommendations.

Province will implement 'majority' of recommendations

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock told reporters in Fredericton on Thursday that the province will implement the "vast majority" of the inquest's recommendations. He said one-third of the recommendations have already been enacted.

Lamrock said the recommendation on teams using school buses will be the toughest because of the cost associated with using buses.

The inquest wrapped up eight days of hearings on Wednesday and the jury deliberated on its recommendations for roughly 24 hours.

The jury heard from more than 30 witnesses, including the two students who survived the crash, Wayne Lord, the team's coach and driver, the driver of the transport truck in the collision and several accident reconstruction experts.

Acevedo and Hains submitted a list of 20 recommendations to Greg Forestell, the province's acting chief coroner, on Wednesday. That list included both a requirement for a Class 2 school bus driver's licence and a bad weather law.