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Humboldt Broncos Involved in Bus Crash

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A few hours before the RCMP announced how many had passed away, I glanced at one of the team photos. I saw the faces of some of those who are no longer with us before I even knew it. 

 

Every time a tragedy hits as hard as this one, I sit back and wonder why I don't always feel the same way about similar events that occur in other parts of the world. Then I think of the people whose loved ones will never be seen again. It's a harsh reminder of how fragile life can be.

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7 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

As a kid, I've been on more of these bus trips than I can count and I'm sure my parents went through a lot of worry over the years. Travel in winter on Canadian highways is always going to have it's risks.

 

The thing about Saskatchewan is that there are a lot of roads, generally laid out in a gridlike fashion. Going from memory of when I traveled Sask a lot, I have a pretty good idea where the bus was when this occurred. I was trying to wrap my head around how they could have been T-Boned by a semi. Looking at google maps, I think I see:

 

image.png.ea4fabed7c80400c7335956aeae4b55f.png

 

They were north of Tisdale, on a straight run to Nipawin. I think the accident must have happened at the junction of highway 35 and route 335. There may have been a stop sign, or the junction might have been uncontrolled. I've certainly seen some in my travels around the province.

 

For point of reference, Humboldt would be to the lower left of this map.

 

And as I'm typing this, some details are starting to come out::(

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/newsalert-humboldt-broncos-captain-among-the-dead/ar-AAvApoW?li=AAggNb9

 

 

Those highways suck! They are straight & clear. But wind drifts of snow hide someone ahead, you hit your brakes on some black ice & suddenly your sideways. It may have been the intersection?  This time of year is most dangerous, as the snow that drifts on the highway melts and freezes, melts and freezes. Visibility is better than the dead of winter, but its the ice that kills.

 

But most who travels those roads know them like the back of their hand.  Can count in their head how many seconds it takes before the next intersection & can count them down in telephone poles, tree's and the breaks in the fields which they can attribute to any one farmers plot by name. My mum's family was from Leroy 18 odd KM's from Humboldt. I only visited every long weekend, and could still count them.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Brad Marchand said:

A few hours before the RCMP announced how many had passed away, I glanced at one of the team photos. I saw the faces of some of those who are no longer with us before I even knew it. 

 

Every time a tragedy hits as hard as this one, I sit back and wonder why I don't always feel the same way about similar events that occur in other parts of the world. Then I think of the people whose loved ones will never be seen again. It's a harsh reminder of how fragile life can be.

I think the difference is that even just as fans, we're still part of the hockey community.  So for us, these kids are still part of our 'own', so to speak, even though we might not know anyone involved directly.

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3 hours ago, gurn said:

People should wait until the police and transport Canada finish their investigation, before thinking they "know" who to blame.

blame?

for what? making a mistake? negligence?  clearly nothing here was planned or intended

there will be little gained in assigning any blame

it's a tragedy and the losses cannot be remedied

 

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8 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

As a kid, I've been on more of these bus trips than I can count and I'm sure my parents went through a lot of worry over the years. Travel in winter on Canadian highways is always going to have it's risks.

 

The thing about Saskatchewan is that there are a lot of roads, generally laid out in a gridlike fashion. Going from memory of when I traveled Sask a lot, I have a pretty good idea where the bus was when this occurred. I was trying to wrap my head around how they could have been T-Boned by a semi. Looking at google maps, I think I see:

 

image.png.ea4fabed7c80400c7335956aeae4b55f.png

 

They were north of Tisdale, on a straight run to Nipawin. I think the accident must have happened at the junction of highway 35 and route 335. There may have been a stop sign, or the junction might have been uncontrolled. I've certainly seen some in my travels around the province.

 

For point of reference, Humboldt would be to the lower left of this map.

 

And as I'm typing this, some details are starting to come out::(

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/newsalert-humboldt-broncos-captain-among-the-dead/ar-AAvApoW?li=AAggNb9

 

 

Definitely stop signs on 335.  Unfortunately, icy conditions possibly contributed to this tragedy.  Across the street, it looks like a previous fatal accident (white crosses?)

IMG_2419.PNG

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A few years ago someone, for a joke or just destruction, took down a stop sign in Delta/Tsw. A few hours later there was a fatal "accident".

Google is only showing you what that intersection looked like when they were there, not what it looked like yesterday at the time of the collision.

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1 hour ago, sonoman said:

Definitely stop signs on 335.  Unfortunately, icy conditions possibly contributed to this tragedy.  Across the street, it looks like a previous fatal accident (white crosses?)

IMG_2419.PNG

Looking at that intersection makes wonder after this tragedy if this should be made into a 4 way stop or find a way to install traffic lights?

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7 hours ago, Jaku said:

One of my good friends cousins was one of the victims that didn't survive the accident. What an absolutely devastating series of events. Thoughts and prayers are with the families at this time. 

Sorry Jaku!

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9 minutes ago, TheRick said:

Looking at that intersection makes wonder after this tragedy if this should be made into a 4 way stop or find a way to install traffic lights?

Yes.

 

It appears from that angle which is facing east if I am reading this correct? That the team bus (with no stop sign) was travelling from right to left, or Northbound?  They would have been blocked by the tree's, on their right, from the seeing the truck. The truck which would have been heading west, towards us in this view.  And the truck would also have not seen the bus, blocked by the tree's.  Why he would have not seen the stop sign, and blew the intersection???

 

And below facing the opposite west direction where the trees are not in sight > the truck appears to have taken the front of the bus sheer off? And spun 90 degree's, with the front of the bus landing behind the truck. With the bus spinning 180 degrees and skidding behind & flipped over. To land in the NW corner of the intersection. 

 

I apologize profusely for speculating based on pictures, google maps & tv footage. But it appears the case?

 

hko_sask_bus_crash_201804071-e1523132967 

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38 minutes ago, Canuck Surfer said:

Yes.

 

It appears from that angle which is facing east if I am reading this correct? That the team bus (with no stop sign) was travelling from right to left, or Northbound?  They would have been blocked by the tree's, on their right, from the seeing the truck. The truck which would have been heading west, towards us in this view.  And the truck would also have not seen the bus, blocked by the tree's.  Why he would have not seen the stop sign, and blew the intersection???

 

And below facing the opposite west direction where the trees are not in sight > the truck appears to have taken the front of the bus sheer off? And spun 90 degree's, with the front of the bus landing behind the truck. With the bus spinning 180 degrees and skidding behind & flipped over. To land in the NW corner of the intersection. 

 

I apologize profusely for speculating based on pictures, google maps & tv footage. But it appears the case?

 

hko_sask_bus_crash_201804071-e1523132967 

I'm thinking the same Surfer.  Both obscured by the trees and possibly icy roads.  

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1 hour ago, Canuck Surfer said:

Yes.

 

It appears from that angle which is facing east if I am reading this correct? That the team bus (with no stop sign) was travelling from right to left, or Northbound?  They would have been blocked by the tree's, on their right, from the seeing the truck. The truck which would have been heading west, towards us in this view.  And the truck would also have not seen the bus, blocked by the tree's.  Why he would have not seen the stop sign, and blew the intersection???

 

And below facing the opposite west direction where the trees are not in sight > the truck appears to have taken the front of the bus sheer off? And spun 90 degree's, with the front of the bus landing behind the truck. With the bus spinning 180 degrees and skidding behind & flipped over. To land in the NW corner of the intersection. 

 

I apologize profusely for speculating based on pictures, google maps & tv footage. But it appears the case?

 

hko_sask_bus_crash_201804071-e1523132967 

I'm thinking that the truck was coming from the bottom of this photo, while the bus was traveling from left to right. If you look at the bottom of the screen, you can see the light pole and power lines, diagonally crossing the intersection.

 

The photo posted by sonoman above is from the opposite direction and shows that the trees in this photo, would have been to the truck driver's left and would definitely have obstructed his view of the bus coming fro the South (left)

 

It looks like the truck sheared off the front third of the bus and spun it 180 degrees. Both vehicles ended up in the field, which I agree is in the northwest corner of the intersection.

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35 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

I'm thinking that the truck was coming from the bottom of this photo, while the bus was traveling from left to right. If you look at the bottom of the screen, you can see the light pole and power lines, diagonally crossing the intersection.

 

The photo posted by sonoman above is from the opposite direction and shows that the trees in this photo, would have been to the truck driver's left and would definitely have obstructed his view of the bus coming fro the South (left)

 

It looks like the truck sheared off the front third of the bus and spun it 180 degrees. Both vehicles ended up in the field, which I agree is in the northwest corner of the intersection.

Do drivers not stop at these stop signs, because of the remoteness?  I wonder if that’s common in those parts?

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2 hours ago, TheRick said:

Looking at that intersection makes wonder after this tragedy if this should be made into a 4 way stop or find a way to install traffic lights?

Drivers could just ... you know ... stop at stop signs. 

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9 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Do drivers not stop at these stop signs, because of the remoteness?  I wonder if that’s common in those parts?

We don't know what the road conditions were. Like sonoman said, the truck might have slid through the intersection because of icy conditions.

 

We don't know for sure that the truck driver is completely exonerated. It's entirely possible that the RCMP investigation comes to the conclusion that he was at fault (at least partially) but I find it doubtful that they'd release him without charges if it were evident that he ignored a stop sign.

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