Natalie MacDonald survived PEI’s holiday bus crash and tells her story on video
Natalie MacDonald survived the bus crash on PEI (photo from CBC video)
Natalie MacDonald was one of two people injured in the crash of a Maritimes Bus coach during the storm on December 30, 2012.
She was with her boyfriend on the way to visit his parents in Halifax, Nova Scotia when the bus driver lost control in the snow storm.
She tells CBC News her story in this video.
The Maritimes Bus coach left Charlottetown, PEI stopping in Hunter River and Summerside before reaching the Confederation Bridge.
Due to high winds the bridge was closed to high sided vehicles like the bus. Bridge closings are common during winter storms.
Buses on the New Brunswick side of the bridge wait out bridge closures. On PEI, the buses will return to Charlottetown, a 35 minute drive.
“Islanders like to go home when the bridge is closed,” Mike Cassidy the owner of Maritimes Bus told CBC in an earlier broadcast. “It’s only 15 or 30 minutes away.”
The bus driver was told by his supervisor to return the passengers to Summerside and Charlottetown. The bus made the trip to Summerside without incident and took Route 2 back to Charlottetown.
At Traveller’s Rest, just south of Malpeque Bay, storm winds blew the bus off the road. Some have suggested a safer road for the high bus would have been the Blue Shank Road, which is not subject to direct gusts from the water.
MacDonald survived the bus crash with non-life-threatening injuries -fractured collar-bone, stitches to her face and a concussion. There is no word on the male passenger who received more injuries.
Broadcast January 2, 2013 – Video copyright CBC used under Canadian Copyright Act Fair Dealing Section 29.2 “Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned: (a) the source; and (iv) broadcaster,”
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