Minivan drivers in Manitoba say safety is paramount for seniors

For seniors in communities across Manitoba, minibuses or handivans are essential means of transportation.

“Without using the handivan as a service, there isn’t much else for seniors who are in a wheelchair or walker to get around,” says Justin Cicholski, manager of a nonprofit handivan service in Neepawa, Man. , a city about 190 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg.

Fifteen people in a handibus en route for a day trip from a senior center to a casino were killed Thursday when it crashed into a semi-trailer truck near Carberry, Man.

The bus was carrying 25 men and women between the ages of 58 and 88.

Cicholski drives seniors and people with disabilities around in minibuses and minibuses in the Neepawa area with Neepawa District Handi Transit.

He said a traffic light should be installed at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 where Thursday’s accident occurred.

Greg Shaw, a driver with the Neepawa company, agreed that it is a busy intersection.

“The scary thing is we’ve all been on that journey. We all crossed that highway. We know how busy it is,” Shaw said.

“We know what’s at stake.”

Shaw, who was an ambulance driver for 30 years before getting behind the wheel of a handibus, said the buses usually have a superintendent or superintendent responsible for looking after the seniors on board.

That person will ensure that passengers are restrained with seat belts or that their wheelchairs are secured to the floor. No one should have to get up or walk around, Shaw said.

“There is nothing loose at all. Safety is simply paramount.”

Drivers operating buses in Manitoba require a class 2 driver’s license, which allows them to drive more than 24 passengers.

Kristy Rydz of Manitoba Public Insurance added that minibuses must also carry $2 million liability insurance.

She said she had no figures available on the number of minibuses registered in the province.

Shaw said he’s extra careful as a driver.

“When you have vulnerable people with you, you take that extra step to be safe.”

That means taking an extra second or two to check each direction for oncoming traffic when passing through an intersection, he said.

“Because we are such small, tight-knit communities, We know the people who ride with us,” he said. “There’s just a personal relationship.”

Cicholski said he hires many retirees in their 60s to work as drivers because they can relate to their senior passengers and they can have a good time on the trips.

All drivers should undergo a health check every few years to make sure they are fit to drive, he said.

The bus involved in the fatal accident was operated by Quality Care Transit, a company licensed by the City of Dauphin. It organized the trip from the Dauphin Active Living Center to Sand Hills Casino in Carberry.

The company expressed its condolences to the crash in a Facebook post on Friday. “My heart aches for everyone involved,” it said.

A social media post announced the launch of Quality Care in November 2022.

Most rural communities have their own accessible transportation systems operated by local municipalities and cities and others are privately owned.

Dauphin and District Handivan Service has been working with the community for over 38 years and has four vans in the town.

Cicholski said it’s hard to imagine the amount of pain the families of the bus crash victims are going through.

Because of the crash, he said, his bus company is making an immediate change to begin recording emergency contacts for all passengers in the event of an accident.

“Hopefully it never happens,” he said.

“But if something were to happen, We will have a list of everyone traveling with us.”