The Ottawa bus driver in a 2019 fatal crash at the Westboro transit station has been acquitted of all criminal charges.
In a decision delivered Wednesday, Ontario Court Justice Matthew Webber acknowledged the “pure magnitude of human suffering” that gripped the city in the aftermath of the Jan. 11, 2019 crash.
OC Transpo bus operator Aissatou Diallo was driving bus 8155 when she crashed into the steel awning of the Westboro transit station killing three passengers — Anja Van Beek, Judy Booth and Bruce Thomlinson — and injuring dozens of others.
Police then charged Diallo with three counts of dangerous driving causing death and 35 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
“This is a tragic, tragic case indeed. And the degree of human pain and loss that was suffered by so many has not eluded me. However, to convict Ms. Diallo of this serious criminal offence on the strength of the proven conduct before me, would be to cast the net far too wide,” Webber said.
“Ms. Diallo, you are free to go.”
Judge found driver intended to merge but was led astray
Diallo intentionally merged from the left lane into the right service lane seconds before she drove off the road, Webber found, acquiescing to a passenger’s stop request.
Though her speed “was a little excessive” as she travelled roughly 70 kilometres per hour when the posted speed limit on the Transitway is 50 kilometres per hour, the judge said it was comparable to that of a colleague driving behind her.
The “oppressive” sun setting in front of her was “obviously a hazard,” while an “errant” and misleading road marking led her directly into a snow-filled gutter, Webber added, contributing to the crash.
“In all likelihood, she was influenced by the road marking to move too far to the right … Diallo followed and into the open gutter she went,” he said, adding the incorrect road marking was likely enhanced by the sun’s rays.
“I have found that if a bus was to follow that painted line … the bus would likely end up in the open gutter full of ice and snow at the time.”
3 collisions just before fatal crash
Once the bus was off the road there were three separate but sequential collisions, all of which happened in a matter of seconds before the bus crashed into the station’s steel canopy.
The bus first collided with a snowbank within one second of leaving the road, which Webber said would have been jolting and the bus windshield was covered with snow as a result.
The bus then collided with the rock-faced wall through which the Transitway had been dug, blowing debris through the front door of the bus and into the vehicle.
One second later, the bus struck another snowbank — its third collision before hitting the awning, and the bus rocked back and forth during all of it.
“The limitations of human perception and reaction times would have made it next to impossible for Ms. Diallo to meaningfully respond to the crisis she found herself and her passengers in, given the rapidness of the sequential collisions that occurred,” Webber said.
“Within approximately two seconds of hitting the second snow bank, bus 8155 collided with the canopy of Westboro station.”
Webber found Diallo’s driving, up until the point of the first collision, had been “flawless.”
Webber told the court Diallo’s manner of driving merited scrutiny — not the fatal consequences of the crash — and it would need to be a “marked departure” from the standard of care that a reasonable person would show.
“Once the bus was in the gutter and subjected to the barrage of consecutive collisions, she may well have done nothing but the realities of human perception and reaction times … (would have rendered) her unable to do so,” he said.
“These events happened in a matter of seconds.”
Diallo failed to keep the bus on the paved surface but the “genesis of that act” was her own attempt “to comply with what appeared to be a legitimate road marker.”
Higher duty of care, Crown argued
The Crown and defence presented arguments based on video taken by OC Transpo cameras at the Westboro station, onboard video from the bus, and data recordings from the transit agency’s computer systems.
Witness testimony included passengers who travelled on both levels of the double-decker bus that day, as well as OC Transpo trainers and maintenance staff.
Asssitant Crown attorneys Dallas Mack and Louise Tansey said Diallo’s training as a professional driver meant she had a higher duty of care, which they argued could be an aggravating factor in the case. They also argued the double-decker bus was in excellent working condition on the day of the collision.
The Crown argued Diallo failed to act to prevent or mitigate the collision.
Consider mitigating factors, defence said
Defence lawyers Fady Mansour and Solomon Friedman argued there were several mitigating factors that helped explain why the bus left the roadway, and why Diallo couldn’t regain control.
The defence presented the report of a collision reconstruction expert who pointed to the angle of the sun, unclear lane markings from an old construction detour, and the rapid succession of collisions once the bus left the roadway and travelled through the gutter and shoulder on the way to the station.
The gutter had previously been paved as part of a 2018 construction detour but had ice and snow in it at the time of the collision, court heard.
The Crown did not call the lead police investigator in the case to testify, nor did it present the police collision reconstruction report.
The City of Ottawa has accepted civil liability for the collision and paid out $5 million to victims’ families two years after the crash.