Whitehorse Daily Star

Transport truck clips school bus

A transport truck driver is facing a charge of failing to stop for a school bus after a collision Wednesday morning on the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse.

By Whitehorse Star on January 17, 2019

A transport truck driver is facing a charge of failing to stop for a school bus after a collision Wednesday morning on the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse.

The RCMP said Wednesday afternoon the collision happened at 8:15 a.m. at Kilometre 1399 of the highway.

“The school bus was stopped on the side of the Alaska Highway with all its lights and flashers on, waiting to pick up a child at a bus stop,” police said.

The students were headed to Golden Horn Elementary School, located near the Carcross cutoff.

“The transport truck failed to stop as required, swerved to avoid hitting the bus, but clipped the rear of school bus in the process. There was minor damage to both vehicles.”

Police and EMS personnel responded to the collision. One student was checked by EMS, then released to get back on the bus.

Department of Education officials said the RCMP gave the go-ahead for the bus to get back on the road, and students were taken to the school.

They arrived at 9:10 a.m. and were met by school staff.

Education spokeswoman Maxine White said once staff had confirmed the names of all the students who were on the bus, calls were made to inform their families of the collision.

A letter was sent home after school about it.

Police did not identify the driver of the transport truck nor the company it’s affiliated with.

Comments (12)

Up 0 Down 0

Name witheld on Feb 8, 2019 at 7:37 pm

I am the driver that clipped the schoolbus on Wednesday Jan 16th. I have withheld my name for obvious reasons. I understand people's concerns but what concerns me is that you are all only getting part of the story. This is what happened from my point of view. For all the kms I drive, I pass several snow plows during the day. Like school buses, snow plows have several lights. Several times a day I come up on plows that slow down and wait for you to pass before continuing on. As I approached Whitehorse I noticed a vehicle ahead of me that was moving and had LOTS of lights flashing, I assumed it to be a plow. As I got closer i saw the vehicle ahead of me, stopped. The lights on the back were so bright I could not see the stop signs at the front of the bus. I assumed the vehicle ahead was a plow waiting for me to go around. I did not see that it was a bus until it was to late. The road was icy. I was doing under 25 kmh as I approached. I could either slide into the back of the bus or try to go around. At the point of impact I was only going 12 kmh.

I have some questions.
1. Why is a bus stopping on a road with a 100 kmh?
2. Why are kids forced to cross a lane of traffic to get around to the other side of the bus where the door is?
3. Why was the kid waiting on the side of the road, in the dark, with no street light?

Oh and btw Jose Wales, I am not an immigrant. I'm a 54 year old Caucasian male. I've had my class 1 license for 32 years.

Up 6 Down 0

Just Sayin' on Jan 22, 2019 at 4:33 pm

Maybe, having some law enforcement on the highway would be helpful. I drive that route and there are so many people at fault it boggles my mind how no child has been killed. The bus drivers seem to be in a race to get the kids to school. I have dash cam footage of a former bus driver, pulling out just before Wolf's Den restaurant; another rolling stop. I see the parents at Yukon River Bridge dropping their kids off at the pullout area and as soon as those doors open, they are off like a prom dress (Blue Honda Van).
Needless to say, everyone is in a rush to get no where fast. Honestly, there is blame on both sides and the drivers of the bus need to warn traffic at least 30 seconds in advance that they are going to be stopping. Drivers, turn your hazards on when you are behind school bus, it will help others know to slow down.
Yukon drivers suck.

Up 7 Down 3

Allan Stanley on Jan 21, 2019 at 12:59 pm

HMMM - basic traffic laws not enforced or observed in Whitehorse and seemingly in the rest of the Yukon as well.

TICK TOCK until we get a MAJOR collision.

Up 8 Down 0

Josey Wales on Jan 20, 2019 at 9:12 am

Yes I see many angles on this one too, agreeing with a few here...imagine!
Otto....sometimes the time from yellow to red flashers is very quick.
Not School bus but CoW used to have a driver that the very second that filament got an electron, wheels cranked and barge into traffic....ITS THE LAW!!!!! Says that ridiculous billboard on the back.
Back to school buses, turning left off the highway by Super Eh in porter creek...-38 exhaust fog everywhere and? Yup...passed by a SB on the shoulder. Oh it gets better AT thee crosswalk, folded my door PS mirror forward...real professional driver that was.

Tractor operator...as is the trend perhaps the driver was a recent 3rd world
enrichment? From a country or culture where school buses are fiction, stop signs...what are they?
If so perhaps the ripple effect of political correctness had a part in that collision, absolute 100% pontificating on my part as not a clue being not there.

When I drive in this town, I assume nobody is compliant with any of our “traffic laws”.
I base my assumption on the suggested evidence seen daily with these two sensory orbs in my skull.
...and no I do not hold the average bus driver with any more regard than a geriatric RV pilot, government certification or not.
Tractor operators? There are many, many poor, many mediocre and some stellar...and yes many many recent 3rd world enrichments are pulling loads
just like back home. As they damn well like.
The average Whitehorse driver? More like Jeff Healy piloting a helicopter in LA , seriously.
As a collective group, gaaaaaawd our drivers suck...regardless of unit driven.

Glad no wee ones got hurt, they have enough danger to cope with...once they get off that bus.
And into our enabling community rife with nefarious recidivistism and yes.....even predating pedofilic scumbags.
Folks I can weave this tapestry of factoids all day long, and will...
Intermittent like henceforth.

Up 17 Down 1

Donovan on Jan 18, 2019 at 10:56 pm

Too little information here to lay blame solely on the truck driver. I have seen many times where a bus driver turns on the flashers less than 100 m from the intended stop. There is no time for a loaded truck to react. It goes both ways on needing additional training. 2 weeks training to be able to drive our children around in a vehicle that doesn't have seat belts, while navigating the endless sea of people in cars that refuse to stop for the flashing red lights and even passing the bus on the left, is simply not enough training.

Up 20 Down 4

Henry Wensleydale on Jan 18, 2019 at 11:06 am

It's only going to get worse.
Way too many untrained, unskilled ROAD HOGS out there.
This needs to be addressed at the NATIONAL level AT ONCE.

Up 20 Down 4

Prudence on Jan 17, 2019 at 10:23 pm

Many will blame the truck driver and only the driver. I don’t dispute that he was a major cause of this. However, rules and laws do not physically stop fully loaded fuel transport trucks from destroying a school bus. It’s physics, and people can go on about how “the highway has always been a safe place for kids to get on a bus and a bus to stop and pick up kids” but that won’t change the physical danger inherent in the act.
Everything is safe, until it is not. Emergency workers get killed every year at accidents with many large vehicles with emergency lights on. Fire trucks angle themselves because they know they can’t trust the emergency lights and driver education to be enough to stop vehicles. Only a physical barrier will do that. If children died, or multiple children died, this wouldn’t be an argument. YG would build the necessary pull offs and those would be the designated off highway pick up locations. For those who are now scoffing and thinking it’s another southerner trying to change their yukon. Take it from someone who has lived in a small populace area that has the same thoughts... until children died, then they wished they could have gone back before that and seen the warning signs.
This was a lucky warning sign, and should be used as a reason to change things before the worst makes sure they change. Get the busses and the children off the highway!

Up 15 Down 8

Trevor on Jan 17, 2019 at 6:27 pm

I hope this will bring attention to the lack of consideration of commercial vehicles. My pick up has been sprayed by rocks when waiting to turn left and a transport truck flies by on my left. Then I am traveling 80 kph, speed limit 70 kph and a transport truck 3 meters from my bumper. My favorite is when your waiting to turn onto the hwy and a trucker pulls beside and ahead of you so there is no safe way to pull out. About time to look into city police if the RCMP are too busy to hand out some tickets.

Up 28 Down 5

My Opinion on Jan 17, 2019 at 6:14 pm

I personally have been shocked by how fast the lights come on and then they stop. Little more warning would be good. Wouldn't have had enough warning if I was in a big rig.

Up 19 Down 6

My Opinion on Jan 17, 2019 at 6:11 pm

These busses also have to stop in areas that allow enough space for trucks to be able to see them in time. Flashing light are a warning, but not a force field.

Picking up at random driveways on the Highway may not be safe or feasible.

Up 11 Down 16

Groucho d'North on Jan 17, 2019 at 5:33 pm

I hope the full measure of penalty is given to this truck driver, not just by the courts but also his colleagues in the industry. There have been a number of transport related disasters in Canada of late involving trucks and buses of various kinds. It's an election year and politicians will promote new and or stronger rules and regulations for the industry to win votes. When you bitch about the new rules, remember why they are the way they are. If you police yourselves better, others will not feel the need to do it for you.
It's time for all commercial drivers to smarten up and be safer for all people traveling our roads. And many drivers in the general public could benefit from some driver training review. It's not one driver or class of driver, it's all of us who need to slow down and be safer behind the wheel. One thing I think would help a great deal is to promote slower drivers to pull over and let others pass when safe to do so, I see too many impatient drivers who pull out to pass slower drivers causing some extra risk for everybody.

Up 27 Down 5

Dan Huntsman on Jan 17, 2019 at 4:24 pm

We should find out from the transport driver what went wrong. All drivers should give school buses special consideration.

Accidents happen so let's hear went went on.
School children waiting for buses should be aware of the safest places to stand- ie a few feet up a driveway but the onus is always on all drivers to ensure the safety of students and school buses.

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