A little over seven months ago a scary crash happened in Saskatchewan, experts believe it was not an accident. On April 6, 2018, sixteen people were killed and thirteen injured when a westbound semi-trailer truck struck a northbound coach bus near Armley, Saskatchewan, Canada. The semi-trailer had failed to yield at a flashing stop sign at the intersection of Highways 35 and 335.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu faces 16 charges of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. He was not present in provincial court on November 27.
Adam Herold, who was 16, was the youngest person killed in the crash. Adam’s father, Russ Herold, was among the first people calling for action. The RCMP investigated the cause of the crash and made safety recommendations when the work was completed.
It was a big scale tragedy, many government agencies were involved in the investigation, and they were working on few key points. First, to understand what happened that led to this crash, why that happened and second, who is responsible and how to fix the issue to prevent such incidents in the future.
The truck driver charged in connection to the Humboldt Broncos fatal bus crash, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, made his first court appearance on Tuesday, July 10th, attended by some families of the hockey team, and was released on a $1,000 bail, he will be back in court on October 23.
And now the new information surfaced, Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason announced charges against the owner of the trucking company involved in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. On Wednesday, October 10th Mason said Wednesday that Sukhmander Singh of Adesh Deol Trucking faces charges of non-compliance with various federal and provincial safety regulations.
The Adesh Deol Trucking company is Calgary based, the investigation is still continuing, the company is suspended and had stopped all operations since the crash in April. Officials with Alberta Transportation said eight charges have now been laid against the trucking company owner. They include seven federal charges: two counts of failing to maintain logs for drivers hours of service, three counts of failing to monitor the compliance of a driver under safety regulations, and two counts of having more than one daily log for any day. The eighth charge under provincial regulations alleges failure to have or follow a written safety program.
A department spokesman said a federal Crown lawyer will be handling the prosecution on the charges against the owner. The maximum penalty for federal hours of service failing is $5,000 per offense, while the provincial charge carries a $310 penalty. A court can, however, use discretion to impose a penalty up to $2,000.
Sidhu’s lawyer appeared by telephone and said the talks are an attempt to “expedite the matter.”
Crown prosecutor Wade Rogers said they asked for an adjournment until Dec. 18 “for ongoing discussions.”
Sidhu has yet to enter a plea and remains free on bail. He is not required to be in court at this stage of the proceedings.
The province of Saskatchewan is making driver training for new commercial truckers and bus drivers mandatory. That incident prompted jurisdictions across Canada to take a closer look at their safety practices. Alberta Transportation was already in the process of considering several improvements to traffic safety in our province. The province authorities said that such training will be implemented as mandatory starting March 1st of 2019. The province will eliminate a temporary safety fitness certificate and require all new commercial carriers to prove compliance with transportation safety regulations before they start operating. They will also be required to renew it every three years.