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 July 10th, attended by some families of the hockey team, and was released on a $1,000 bail.
Sidhu’s lawyer appeared by telephone and asked for more time to review disclosure received from the Crown in the last few days. The Crown said the details come from a government report.
The judge granted the adjournment and the case will be back in court on Jan. 8, 2019. It is the fifth adjournment in the matter. It is not clear when Sidhu will enter a plea. Sidhu, 30, was charged exactly three months after the crash.
He must stay in his Calgary home under a curfew, is banned from driving, and surrendered his passport.
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.