Canadians call for coach seatbelt law

The head coach of a hockey team in Canada is calling for mandatory wearing of seatbelts, following a coach accident in April which saw 15 members of another hockey team killed.

The Humboldt Broncos coach crash involving an articulated lorry saw the coach, from Charlie’s Charters, roll on to its side and passengers fall through the broken windows. Now, the head coach of another hockey team – whose team manager lost his son in the accident – says Canada needs to follow Europe’s example.

A lawsuit has already been filed by one family who lost a child in the Humboldt Broncos crash, asking for a court order that all sports team coaches in Saskatchewan be equipped with seatbelts. The USA only mandated new coaches to be fitted with seatbelts in 2016, and only eight states make them a compulsory fitment on school buses. Canada is even further behind, mandating new coaches to have belts by 2020.

“If the wearing of shoulder belts on coach buses can be implemented successfully in the UK and some other European countries, then I believe that we, as Canadians, are capable of accomplishing the same,” Tricia Wack, mother of one of the dead, said.

“With the Humboldt Broncos bus crash bringing this issue to the forefront, many Canadians are acknowledging the need for bus belts. Now is the time to make it happen.”

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