“We waited in the dark…blood streaming down my face”

Natalie MacDonald, passenger on the Maritime Bus that crashed on PEI

A Maritime Bus coach with 30 passengers crashed in Traveller’s Rest Prince Edward Island, sending two people to the hospital.

The Halifax-bound bus was turned back at the Confederation Bridge due to high winds.

Confederation Bridge issued a high winds advisory at 3:04 PM on Sunday, before the bus left Summerside to make the trip, restricting buses and trucks from crossing. 

After being turned back at the bridge, the bus driver dropped off some passengers in Summerside and left for Charlottetown, PEI.

At about 5 PM Sunday December 30, 2012 the Maritime Bus coach  careened off the road landing on the passenger side in the snow-filled ditch.

The bus company blamed high winds. “The weather was horrible”, said one passenger “and the driver wasn’t driving nearly as slow as he should have been.”

Some passengers said the bus was going too fast for the road conditions, which would seem to be true since the driver lost control.

The company was recently reported in Nova Scotia for possible safety issues.

“(Ian) Fulford”, a passenger on the bus “said the driver couldn’t compensate by moving into the other lane because there was traffic coming the other way. “There was nothing else he could do.’’ (Guardian).

Maritime Bus after crash showing damage to the passenger side front

Passengers then fell to the left (passenger) side of the bus, on top of each other which is when the injuries happened.

“The bus driver walked from the front to the back of the bus asking if people were okay,” wrote one passenger on Facebook. “I told him my girlfriend had a gash on her chin that was pouring out blood, and couldn’t feel her head,”

“He said okay and kept walking to the back. Before returning to the front of the bus and doing nothing. He didn’t try to help, didn’t even retrieve the first aid kit.”

A nurse was on board and she attended to the passengers until paramedics arrived about 20 minutes later, according to witnesses.

The bus driver turned off the bus and the passengers were left in the dark. First responders advised the remaining passengers on the bus not to move until the power was turned off.

Passengers Injured

Two people were injured in the crash requiring medical attention later at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside. A man at the back of the bus appeared to have serious problems, said one passenger.

A young woman sustained a concussion and was bleeding from her neck and chin. Natalie MacDonald, 20, of Charlottetown was unconscious for about one minute. She told CBC she hit her head on the TV screens attached to the ceiling.

Her boyfriend said first responders had to kick the TV screens off the ceiling to get at people. The screens were not retractable.

After being examined and diagnosed with a bruised collar-bone and lacerations at the Prince County Hospital, MacDonald was released. There was no word on the man who was injured.

MacDonald said no one from the bus company was at the hospital to help passengers with injuries. She and her boyfriend made their way to a motel on their own. The bus company did not transport the injured back to Charlottetown.

Bus passenger Natalie MacDonald after treatment at the Prince County Hospital

MacDonald was examined again on New Year’s Eve with symptoms of a concussion, blurred vision, loss of peripheral vision, headache and dizziness. The doctors told her to rest for 2 – 3 weeks and to avoid anything that requires concentration.

Mike Cassidy of Maritime Bus told a CBC reporter to have MacDonald call him. He told CBC they would offer her another free trip to Halifax but did not ask about her injuries.

MacDonald says she is not ever getting on a Maritime Bus nor any bus again.

Weather advisories

A weather advisory was issued on December 29th by the Confederation Bridge warning that on Sunday by “10 a.m. winds are projected in the 90-100 km/h range with gusts up to 120 km/h. Forecast indicates conditions will remain the same until approximately 4 p.m. Monday.” Guardian

The Confederation Bridge was closed to high sided traffic like tractor trailers and buses at 3:04 pm on Sunday, before the Maritime Bus coach left Summerside.  Passengers were advised if the bus left the terminal, they would not be compensated for refusing to board.

Once the bus returned to Summerside, the driver stopped at a local coffee shop. He called his supervisor and got instructions to go ahead back to Charlottetown.

Maritime Bus safety

During its first month of operations in December 2012, two complaints were made against Maritime Bus by passengers related to safety and driver inexperience.

The Halifax Chronicle Herald reported “Another complaint has been filed against a Maritime Bus driver in the private transit company’s first week of taking over bus routes in Nova Scotia. Joanna Pettet complained to the Transportation Department’s motor carrier division after a driver on a Kentville-to-Halifax trip told her he had never driven a bus before.”

CBC reported that the “Nova Scotia’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal is investigating a complaint about a driver with the new Maritime Bus service after a passenger complained he felt unsafe during a recent trip.”

Maritime Bus is subsidiary of Coach Atlantic Group, licensed to service “charter, tours, transit and line” in Atlantic Canada. “The members of the Coach Atlantic Group include…Trius Tours, Prince Edward Tours, Coach Atlantic Transportation Group Inc., Trius Transit, WTS Bus Charters, Prestige Bus Services and Transport New Generation.”

Full disclosure – my daughter and her boyfriend were on the bus, going to Halifax for New Year’s with his family. He called and texted our house almost immediately after the accident and several times throughout their ordeal.