Three Children Perish Near Sudbury Ontario Without Explanation
While the public may see nothing wrong with three child deaths in this collision, anyone with sufficient experience and training in injury causation should be shouting loudly.
Granted, the OPP released just a single photo of the collision-involved vehicle in which three children perished (shown above) in a collision near Sudbury on January 1, 2020 when the vehicle reportedly struck a rock cut. And a single photo can be very misleading. But if this photo is so misleading, why would the OPP release it without explanation? Clearly this photo does not explain how three children could have sustained fatal injuries if they were the occupants of the white passenger car shown in the above photo.
The front end shows some crush but the right front wheel is only moderately displaced, rearward, in its wheelwell. And another classic sign of collision severity is to examine the displacement of the roof pillars.The pillars that are visible do not show any indication of displacement. It appears that the right rear door may have been removed by emergency personnel but there is no indication of massive crush in that region. So none of this evidence provides an explanation as how and why the children perished.
It has been observed in the past that police and news media like to play games with the public by not showing the area of principal and direct impact. Thus there could be major crush on the left side, the left rear, or even the rear surface of the vehicle and these areas are not visible in the above photo. But this is a matter of significant importance. Such games should not be played. We should be assured that the children did not die from some unusual reason that requires correction to protect future children.
If the above photo truly represents the primary area of direct contact with a rock cut then an explanation is clearly warranted. There is no reason why three children should die when the vehicle interior is intact and the moderate crush does not indicate a collision severity that limits survivability. Factors such as improper use of restraints or use of improper restraints could result in fatalities even though a collision is of moderate severity. And there could be other complicating factors. But if these complications exist they should never be kept from the public’s attention because, as has been said numerous times on this website, the public is the ultimate entity that should make change occur through its elected representatives.
Racism Prejudice and Discrimination – Make Them Homeless in 2020
This holiday season, celebrate your making racism, prejudice and discrimination homeless. Make them have no place to sleep, nor food to eat, nor encouraging words to grow. And give a warm and helping hand to the poor, mentally challenged and victims of misfortune who truly deserve your encouragement and respect for surviving the difficult hurdles placed in their paths.
Propane Tanker Rollover Due to Road Bump Rarely Publicly Admitted
It is one of those things we do not talk about in public. Road bumps cannot cause collisions. At least not publicly.
Yet the Kingston Whig Standard was willing to report to the public that, according to the driver of a propane tanker truck, this is exactly what caused the loss-of-control of his truck and subsequent rollover.
This rollover reportedly occurred on Orser Road, just north of Kingston, Ontario. A Googlemaps view of Orser Road in the 2900 block is shown in the figure below. This view was taken in May of 2014 or about 5 1/2 years before this incident. The road surface appears to be a tar and chip material which is known to be less stable than a hard, asphalt paving or concrete. So, depending on how the maintenance was carried out, it is believable that a significant bump could be generated on this type of surface.
Anyone living in the area could easily walk to the vicinity of the tire marks and gouges that would be caused by the tanker truck before its rollover. From this point a walk could be taken for approximately 200 to 300 metres to determine if any significant bump existed. Unfortunately neither police nor the author of the newspaper article provided any indication whether such an exploration was conducted. Whether or not police would have documented the existence of such a bump in any report will remain unknown. The activities of the tanker truck driver will also be unknown with respect to what he/she does in defense of any charges. And the activities of the insurer of the truck in determining where liability may lie will also be kept secret.
There are rare occasions where roadway bumps become so obvious that police and news media have no option but to make them known. An example of this is a “sink hole” that was reported by the OPP in the left (fast) lane of Highway 401 between Brock Street and Thickson Road near Whitby on December 24, 2019. A photo posted on the OPP Twitter account is shown in the figure below.
Much like sightings of rare animal species, sightings of road maintenance workers taking measurements of road disturbances are extremely rare. Here the OPP released a photo of such a happening. Such procedures are generally top secret.
The close up view of the the above photo, shown below, seems to indicate that the road depression is about 6 inches or 15 centimetres. Ontario’s Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) indicate that this Class 1 Highway should be inspected 3 times per week. However is that good enough? Published traffic volumes between Thickson Road and Brock Street in 2016 indicate about 151,000 vehicles use this stretch of Hwy 401 every day. If the roadway is not inspected for 3 days that works out to over 450,000 vehicles. While it cannot be known how many vehicles might be travelling in the eastbound left lane, the potential numbers need not require deep thought.
This zoomed in view seems to show that the drop in the road surface is about 6 inches or about 15 centimetres.
Ontario’s MMS also provide examples of what depth and area of “potholes” are permissible and how much delay can exist before they are repaired. But is the depression shown in the above photos a “pothole” or simply a depression? And how with this pothole or depression be measured? Will some investigators use a four-foot carpenter’s level or something much longer? The MMS do not provide a definition and this often means that many highly paid lawyers will argue the point at great length, and expense, should the issue come to trial.
For a paved surface the “pothole” must have a surface area of a at least 1500 cm2, or a square this is about 1.2 by 1.2 metres (or about 4 feet by 4 feet). It must also have a depth greater than 8 centimetres (just over 3 inches). If these conditions exist then the roadway authority is required to make a repair within one week from the time that the problem is discovered. So, if the roadway authority is negligent and does not detect the road problem for one month, does this mean that it now has one month plus one additional week to make the repair? Well this may require another meeting of high priced lawyers, with additional high costs, to make a direction to the trier of fact (judge). Who will pay the bills when individuals need to defend themselves against these massive costs? Legal Aid?
It is no wonder that the tanker truck driver would simply want to plead guilty to charges and then plead no contest to any increased premiums on his or her insurance coverage when the rules are so highly stacked against him/her. That is the least of anyone’s worries as the consequences of not identifying a roadway problem and correcting it in a timely manner could mean the loss of someone’s life. With no one being held liable for taking that life.
Deceased Found Inside Pick-up Truck – Expertise in Aging of Evidence Needed
Wellington OPP report that they need to know the “time” when a collision occurred on the Woolwich-Guelph Town Line and Lerch Road.This might help in identifying the deceased found the Black Pick-up truck that was reportedly found “deep” within some trees. The OPP provided the photo below showing the vehicle.
This is an example of a situation where training in the interpretation of physical evidence caused in motor vehicle collisions is needed. Aging of evidence cannot be understood without substantial contact with that evidence. For example the above photo shows several tire marks in the snow in the foreground. If these tire marks had been found by investigators upon their first arrival they would have wanted to know what type of vehicle caused them, when the marks were caused and what motions the vehicle (or vehicles) were performing when the marks were created. The mistake of blindly believing a witness who tells the investigator how the marks were caused could be fatal to an investigation. Conclusions must be drawn independent from what the investigator is told.
Unfortunately most police investigators are not trained to understand the detailed characteristics that exist in tire marks. Police study the basics of tire marks on hard surfaces and only in relation to those marks that are caused just before, or as a result of a collision. But much more can be gained, not only from looking at collision-related tire marks on hard surfaces. As can be seen in the above photo, tire marks can be created in a vast range of situations and conditions. Tire marks in snow and gravel for example are much different and their aging is vastly different than what may occur on hard surfaces. The specific quality of the surface upon which the tire mark is made with govern how the mark will age and how it will appear or when it might no longer be visible.
Even visibility is relative. We have often stated that “Visibility is in the mind of the beholder”. That is, a novice who looks at an aged tire mark may find that it is invisible yet a trained and experienced expert may have no trouble seeing it.
The environmental conditions, rain, snow or wind can be important in changing a tire mark’s appearance. Growth of vegetation or existence of animal or human activity will also be factors that can change the appearance of tire marks over time.
The professional investigator will maintain an atlas of tire marks created in all possible conditions, by all possible vehicles, in all possible actions so that this can be used as a reference when encountering a situation where information needs to be obtained that could be crucial to the progress of an investigation.
Bus in Hong Kong Tripped Over Low Barrier & Into Tree on Road Edge
Those who understand road safety issues can focus the public’s attention to issues that may not be readily apparent. That was the case in the latest, multi-fatal, double-decker bus crash in Hong Kong yesterday that killed 6 passengers.
It did not take long for Professor Ahmed Shalaby, a road safety expert and Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Manitoba, to post the following on his twitter account:
“A Hong Kong double-decker bus collided with a roadside barrier and then a tree immediately behind it. In addition to speeding, two other factors increased the severity of crash. Lack of crashworthiness standards for buses, and roadside barriers that don’t shield large vehicles.”
In these few words he encapsulated the major problems that were not mentioned in numerous news media posts.
In Professor Shalaby’s last sentence “…roadside barriers that don’t shield large vehicles” he pointed out that the highway at the Hong Kong site contained a barrier that was the initial point of contact. Although no views of that barrier have been shown at that specific point of contact, its characteristics can be seen in the photo below, where the damaged bus is stopped next to the barrier.
Clearly, compared to the height of the bus, the barrier is very low. The barrier could not possibly stop the bus from tipping, or tripping over it, thus exposing the upper deck of the bus to a tree impact. The tree itself was likely much too close to the busy highway. The large orange circle in the above photo shows the evidence where the left-front corner of the bus likely struck the barrier and then the bus was rotated over top of the barrier.
Professor Shalaby was also right in confirming that speed might have been a factor in the crash but he also highlighted the issue of “Lack of crashworthiness”: the degree to which the design of the structure of the bus reduces the probability of injury and death to its occupants. Such crashworthiness has been enshrined in passenger vehicle and light truck safety standards since the 1960s. Yet, crash after crash demonstrates that there is almost no safety design in the structure of large, intercity coaches, worldwide.
That lack of bus structure crashworthiness becomes obvious when examining the above photo and considering the characteristics of the damage where the upper deck of the bus became opened up like someone used a can opener to cut off its lid. The important evidence is that the tearing and rupturing of the sheet metal is not accompanied by any buckling or crush of the structure next to it. When a structure is strong or stiff it will buckle and crush before it finally ruptures and separates. Because the surrounding structure near the tears and ruptures is almost undamaged it is an indicator of the weakness of that structure – the fact that it separated without much force being applied to cause that separation. This occurrence is reminiscent of a similar occurrence in a multi-fatal bus crash with a train near Ottawa in 2013 where the bus structure was separated with minimal evidence of any disruption in the vicinity of the separation.
Professor Shalaby has been raising this issue of lack of bus crashworthiness through mediums such as the Canadian Parliamentary Committee on Bus Passenger Safety this past spring. His report (co-authored by Zygmunt M. Gorski) highlighted this issue of lack of bus structural crashworthiness. Unfortunately, the Canadian federal election caused a disbanding of the Parliamentary Committee and therefore there has been a delay in the Federal government’s action on this important issue.
We must understand that collisions such as the one in Hong Kong are not that different from what could occur in Canada. The same lack of compatibility of the roadway infrastructure and poor bus crashworthiness exists here and will likely rear its ugly head in the next, multi-fatal, bus crash much like the one involving the Humboldt Broncos collision in Saskatchewan in April, 2018. These may be difficult issues with costly price tags. But they need to be discussed with the Canadian federal government joining the Provinces in a joint strategy along with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), U.S. States, bus manufacturers and all other interested parties. A change must occur because there is a dire need for that change.
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