Boys in Red Accident (Paperback)

The Boys in Red accident was a January 12, 2008 collision just outside the city of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada, between a semi-trailer truck and a van carrying the basketball team from Bathurst High School. The accident killed seven students and a teacher and injured four other occupants in the van. It was the deadliest transportation accident in New Brunswick since 1989, when a logging truck tipped onto a hayride in Cormier Village, killing 13.The accident was followed by a national day of mourning in Canada, and a ban on all E350 Ford Club Wagon type vehicles being used for student transportation in New Brunswick. Two investigations, one by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the other by Transport Canada, found that the cause of the disaster was a combination of poor road conditions, lack of proper snow tires, and possibly driver error. Pressure from the public and victims' families prompted the chief coroner of the province to launch an inquiry, which produced recommendations to improve student transport safety in New Brunswick. The provincial government agreed with the majority of the suggestions and has since enacted many of them.