OTTAWA -- More than two years after a fatal bus crash claimed the lives of three people and injured dozens more, changes are being made at Westboro Station.
It comes as a result of an independent road safety study of the station where the crash happened on Jan. 11, 2019, along with four other stations by Parsons Corporation.
Bruce Thomlinson, Judy Booth and Anja van Beek were killed in the crash. Dozens more were injured. The driver of the bus, Aissatou Diallo, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of dangerous driving causing death and 35 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. A verdict is expected on Sept. 22.
In a memo to the mayor, councillors and members of the transit commission, OC Transpo General Manager John Manconi wrote that the measures include:
- Removing loose rock from the rock wall faces east of Westboro Station
- Installing highly visible black and yellow striping on station elements within 3.0 metres of the platform edge
- Replacing no-parking signs with no-stopping signs in the hatched area west of Westboro Station
- Reviewing the retroreflectivity of traffic control signs at and near Westboro Station, and replacing them as requiredReviewing the keep-right, object marker, and lane-ends signs, and replacing or adjusting them as appropriate
- Continuing to maintain the platform and roadway to ensure proper drainage
Intus Road Safety Engineering Inc. is also preparing recommendations for the city’s own road safety audit response report, required as part of the road safety audit process.
The reports have not been finalized.
“City staff will also be acting on engineering advice and recommendations to review all Transitway stations for improvements that should be made, and to determine any revisions that should be made to the engineering standards for future Transitway construction and reconstruction,” Manconi wrote in the memo.
