WINNIPEG – A woman who was on a bus that crashed Monday morning says she feels the driver didn’t adjust her speed to the conditions.
Two Route 35 Maples Super Express buses crashed on Mapleglen Drive at McPhillips Street at about 7:45 a.m. The collision injured several people and eight were taken to hospital in stable condition.
Bonnie Peebles said she got on one of the buses two stops before the crash. The driver overshot Peebles’ stop, so she should have known conditions weren’t good, Peebles said.
“If she didn’t know prior … she knew right there the conditions,” Peebles said.
READ MORE: Freezing rain, cold create slippery roads in southern Manitoba
She didn’t feel the brakes engage as her bus coasted into another Route 35 bus.
“Coming into the corner … there wasn’t any slowing or anything. She just coasted into that bus,” she said.
The crash is under investigation but the union representing transit bus drivers says ice may have played a role. During rush hour there are often two buses running to handle a heavier passenger load, and they often ‘leap-frog’ past one another to help busier buses out.
“The bus doing the overtaking kind of slid on the ice, and went in behind the bus that was passing and collided with the left rear corner,” said John Calahan of the Amalgamated Transit Union. It struck a particularly vulnerable area of the bus, the rear doors.
Peebles says the scene after was chaotic.
“I actually smashed into the post, my head, I was ringing a little, then I fell onto the ground,” she said. “They (other passengers) were screaming. I heard glass. When I looked back, I couldn’t see any damage because there is smoke either coming from our bus or the other bus.”
The driver yelled at everyone to be quiet and not to run, Peebles said.
“The bus drivers are, in my opinion, not addressing anything. It was a guy, a stranger, urging us to calmly get off the bus,” she said. “I got off the bus. My head was ringing, I felt physically awful. I was crying – it was emotional.”
Peebles said she left the scene before ambulances arrived.
“I was just falling apart.”
Patients were taken to Seven Oaks Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, a city spokeswoman said.
The city is investigating the collision.
“It is too early to speculate on what caused the collision,” Michelle Finley said in an email. “Transit operators are trained to drive to road conditions. Accidents between transit buses are very rare.”
WATCH: Early morning bus crash sends eight to hospital.
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