Bus crashes are rare, but rollovers are bad. Rollovers account for one third of all vehicle fatalities. Electronic Stability Control ("ESC") prevents 80% of fatal rollovers by detecting and preventing skids. When ESC detects a skid, it instantly applies one brake to one wheel and reduces engine power to keep the vehicle tracking straight. Most Canadians have never heard of ESC, even though it is dirt cheap and available in more than half of all new vehicles models. Check out Transport Canada's website for a list of models with ESC. Online videos show ESC in action. Consumer Reports says you should not buy a vehicle without ESC.

Thats all fine and dandy Glen, but anyone with the ability to pay attention while in the control of a MV usually doesn't have any trouble keeping them rubber side down even in winter conditions.
It appears though that there is a lack of sand trucks so far.

ESC is just another thing people will think they can use that will save them, thus they won't pay attention as they should be.

So lostfaith is a perfect driver that ESC would not help because they are always in perfect control - yet every post lostfaith makes is complaining about sand trucks (pointing the finger of blame away from themselves)
hmmmmmm

ESC would not have made any difference. The bus slid off the highway. That was the problem. It only partially rolled over as a result of now being on a slope as opposed to a flat road, once it left the pavement.

A good technology, yes...but not applicable in this situation.

The problem was early morning freezing rain, freezing dew. Zero traction factor. If the vehicle was parked, it may have still slid off the road.

As we see from the string of heavy trucks in the rhubarb, even experienced commercial transport drivers were unable to negotiate a road they travel frequently, in frequently poor conditions.

I agree with lostfaith somewhat, in that road maintenance is well below acceptable levels these days.

Also, any driver has to learn the value of stopping while the stopping is good and waiting for conditions to improve, especially when you have 54 seats behind you. The sand truck, if dispatched immediately upon the first report of ice, was still over 100 km away, at a travel speed of 60 km/h at best, if the truck and driver were both ready to go.

Technologies that would have some benefit in this story are: siped tires, tire chains/cable chains, corked or studded tires, winter tires made from specially formulated soft rubber compounds and with heavy siping (such as ice radials, Hakkapelittas, etc.), and in particular for the bus - adjustable tire inflation systems (the driver can dump pressure from the tires with the flick of a switch and soften the tires up, then re-inflate them back to full pressure by flicking the switch again) which also has the benefit of keeping your tires at perfect inflation pressure at all times, which gives you maximum mileage on your tires.

The best medicine, however, would be to recognize undriveable conditions, and pull off the highway for safety. (and I mean way off, not on the shoulder - think sideroad or parking lot)

In spite of technology, we still have to use the grape. Come winter, you'll need to wake up the thing sleeping between your ears.

You have to expect ice on the roads at this time of year. I am tempted to make a comment about driving too fast for the conditions, but that would only be a cheap shot. It is all too common to suddenly encounter black ice, and unfortunately, our private highway maintenance companies cannot afford to be out sanding in case it might get slippery (perhaps that could be a message to governments that set the maintenance budgets?) No, the price of safety is eternal vigilance, and carry chains, even with the neato winter tires we can get now, chains are the ultimate. Plus, they force you to drive slower!
By the way, I agree with Lostfaith, I think that the winter roads could be better maintained than they have been since privatization.
metalman.