N.B. putting students' lives at risk: mothers

A group of mothers whose children died in the 2008 Bathurst van crash say the New Brunswick government is putting students' safety at risk by continuing to transport them to extracurricular activities in vehicles that may not be safe.

This week, the province announced Transport Canada is considering testing the tire configuration used on the 21-passenger multi-function activity buses.

"We want Transport Canada to tell us which kind of tires are really the safest. And we're waiting for the answer," Education Minister Roland Haché said Friday.

The mothers say the testing could take months to complete and if the province isn't sure what is safest, it shouldn't be using the buses.

'We do not want another family to have to endure what we have been through these past two years.' —Marcella Kelly, mother of killed student

"It is very frustrating," said Marcella Kelly, whose son Nicholas was among the seven members of the Bathurst High School boys' basketball team killed in January 2008 when their 15-passenger van slid into the path of a transport truck. The wife of the team's coach was also killed.

"We want to ensure the safety of the children, who are driving in these, which are still transporting children to and from extracurricular activities — even though they don't know if the proper tire fitments are safe — and that really concerns us," Kelly said.

"We do not want another family to have to endure what we have been through these past two years."

Mixed tires called unsafe

The mothers contend the province's current policy of fitting ribbed all-season tires on the front and winter tires on the back of the 21-passenger buses it now uses, is unsafe.

Haché has said the policy of mixing tires is based on the recommendation of tire companies, but he'll abide by the results of any Transport Canada testing.

A 2008 Transport Canada report on the Bathurst crash found the vehicle, which had all-season tires, would have handled better in the snow and slush if it had "properly inflated and aligned winter tires that had adequate tread depths."

A tire expert contends the New Brunswick government has only asked Transport Canada to do testing because "they've been backed into a corner.

"And public pressure, from what I've seen on forums, is entirely against them," said John Mahler, who writes for the Toronto Star's Wheels section, and tests car tires for the paper.

He says the province's current mixed tire configuration is "pretty unsafe" because of the traction imbalance it can create.

"When you put winter tires on the rear and all season tires on the front, the vehicle has a ton of traction to go forward, but not to brake, or negotiate a turn," he said.

Simple test would suffice

"When a vehicle brakes, as much as 70 per cent of the braking ability is done with the front wheels because of the weight transfer and with all-season tires on there, you do not have much grip."

But it could be next fall before the Transport Canada test results are available and the bill will be "horrendous," likely hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Mahler. The issue could be resolved much more quickly and cheaply, he said.

"If [the province is] so sure that they're right … a simple test could have been arranged.

"One bus, two sets of tires and an empty parking lot and we could have solved this in a day. But they are not the least bit interested in getting the test results."

The other option would be to buy winter tires for the two front wheels, he said, estimating it would cost about $300 per vehicle.