The City of Ottawa’s chief fleet safety officer says requiring assessments before a new bus driver is hired is helping with safety on the roads.
Shari Nurse testified Monday at the Coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Bruce Thomlinson, Anja Van Beek and Judy Booth. The three were passengers on the top level of a double decker bus that crashed into a bus shelter at Westboro station on Jan. 11, 2019.
Nurse talked about the new driver assessment application brought in by the city following the deadly crash that also includes cognitive and on-road components that can be used to inform hiring decisions.
Nurse said the “Accelerate” program can produce a high or low risk score for each person seeking to become an OC Transpo driver. It can also be used on current transit operators.
“Some people weren’t made for driving, and we try not to hire them and that was part of this action plan,” Nurse said, speaking generally about recruitment practices.
She added the assessments, “really helped us so that we’re not hiring our next collision.”
The driver of the bus, Aissatou Diallo, was acquitted of all criminal charges against her in 2021.
Diallo had been an OC Transpo driver for six months at the time of the fatal crash and had been in a collision the month prior at St. Laurent station. Following that collision, she had to take refresher training and was then cleared to return to work. The Westboro collision happened days later.
Nurse said in complex cases, such as when collisions are involved, decisions about whether a driver is fit to resume driving “aren’t made in isolation.”
“We work very closely and collaboratively to ensure the right decision is made,” she said.
Data from several years ago showed OC Transpo buses drove more than 57 million kilometres annually.
“I believe our safety record shows that we are safe,” Nurse said. “Doesn’t mean we are… without incident. There’s always room for improvement.”
Nurse said the city should look at what drivers are put on what routes and in what bus classes so that the city can “evolve to a point where we’re not putting… drivers into the highest-risk bus class on the highest-risk route because that’s just a collision waiting to happen.”
The city accepted civil responsibility for the crash in 2020.
Bus driver hasn’t responded to summons
The inquest heard Diallo has not responded to a summons compelling her to appear and testify.
“We have reason to believe that she is currently outside the jurisdiction,” inquest co-counsel Peter Napier told the inquest.
Still, he said Diallo remains on the witness list for Friday.
If Diallo doesn’t testify, the presiding officer could ask a judge to consider issuing a bench warrant for her arrest so police could bring her to the inquest if she’s in Ontario.
