ESC and How it May Have Prevented New Brunswick Tragedy

By Submitted Article

   Today, thousands filled  an auditorium for the funeral of 7 basketball players, killed in a  crash .

Police say  the crash occurred when the  van  hit the shoulder of the road, and  fishtailed into the path of an on coming semi.  The van did not have winter tires.

Glen Nicholson continues his  look at the benefits of Electronic Stability Control:

Late Friday night, parents of Bathurst High School’s basketball team sipped coffee at a McDonald’s restaurant, awaiting the return of their kids from a Moncton tournament away.  The boys lost their game but they were in high spirits as their coach drove their van 200 kilometres back to Bathurst.  They sang Happy Birthday to one of their team-mates after he turned 16 at midnight.  One of them phoned to say they were just five minutes from home. 

It had snowed and the roads were icy.  Suddenly, the van fishtailed, slid across the centre line, and slammed into a transport truck.  In an instant, the coach’s wife and seven of the ten kids were dead.

These were among the finest people in Bathurst, a community of 12,500, and the nation poured out its grief.  Prime Minister Harper wrote, “The sudden loss of eight people in this unthinkable accident shocked the nation and all Canadians join you in mourning their passing. As a father, I particularly grieve with the parents who have lost their children.”

Amidst the flood sympathy were angry reactions.  Some blamed coaches for travelling on icy roads after dark instead of staying in a hotel.  Others blamed the police for not closing the roads. 

As shock and denial evolve into loss and anger, there will be more blame.  And then, people will stop thinking about it, just as we have almost forgotten the four little kids who died in last month’s crash near Cluculz Lake.

Road crashes kill more people aged 3 to 33 than any other cause.  We blame young people for carelessness, inexperience, and poor judgment.  Yet none of the victims described above can be faulted for their choices. 

You also cannot blame the four who died when a bus carrying a Windsor junior women’s hockey team collided with a tractor trailer in 2005.  Nor can you fault the four school children killed on their way to a Halifax music festival when their bus went off the road and flipped in 2002.  Equally innocent were the four young hockey players from the Swift Current Broncos who died when their bus skidded off an icy highway in 1986.

Blaming weather is as pointless as telling Canadians to stop all winter travel.  Blaming authorities is equally futile because they blame drivers.  Claes Tingvall of the Swedish Road Administration says that “the road transport system and its stakeholders have been given the task of providing the citizen with mobility but have at the same time unintentionally generated one of the largest health catastrophes ever seen in the history of mankind. In a moral and legal sense, there has always been a citizen to blame.” 

When we stop blaming each other, we might discover a helpful solution unknown to most Canadians.  Electronic Stability Control (“ESC”) is a computerized system that helps drivers control their vehicles by detecting skids and applying brakes and/or reducing engine power.  ESC reduces fatal crashes as much as 43% and is ideal for preventing the fishtailing that killed the Bathurst kids.  ESC costs $111 to make and is available in new cars, vans, trucks, and buses from all manufacturers. 

ESC has been available for a dozen years and is now in over one-third of new vehicle models.  Yet Canadians continue buying vehicles without ESC, endangering the lives of themselves, their children, and other road users.

Political leaders could easily inform Canadians about ESC, yet when asked to do so Prime Minister Harper wrote, “You may be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed.”

I requested Public Safety Minister John Les to raise awareness of ESC through ICBC insurance renewal notices.  I also asked Premier Campbell and local MLA’s Shirley Bond and Pat Bell to help raise awareness of ESC.

Shirley Bond bought a vehicle without ESC and it went out of control and rolled.  Pat Bell is glad his vehicle has ESC.  They both spoke to John Les about ESC, and  Premier Campbell wrote, “I will ask that [Public Safety Minister John Les] give your comments careful consideration.”

In response, Minister Les did nothing.  Instead, he blamed drivers, writing, “The leading cause of crashes is driver behaviour.” 

Click on this ESC video link, and see if you think your politicians should do more to keep your kids safe:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=pQq-4KYBxsI

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