In this photo, all seasons on front, winters on rear. The obstacle represents where the same bus outfitted with six winter tires on all four axles had stopped. Photo by John Mahler, February 24, 2010, Continental Tires Testing Facility, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Without winter tires on the front axle, the bus can't stop in the same distance. In this photo, all seasons on front, winters on rear. Photo by John Mahler, February 24, 2010, Continental Tires Testing Facility, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.The scientific tests were performed late Tuesday and early Wednesday at Continental Tires state-of-the art facility near Sault St. Marie, Michigan. The results show "winter tires are safest" says Isabelle Hains, who observed the studies at the test site along with Marcella Kelly and Ana Acevedo of Bathurst.
"The tests provide indisputable visual and scientific evidence that winter tires are safest on 21 passenger MFAVs," Hains said. "This is all we were concerned about, the safety of the children. We asked the Ministers of Education and Transportation to take those vehicles off the road when we first raised the issue four months ago, but they refused."
Continental is one of the world's largest tire manufacturers with a 560 acre state facility in Brimly, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The German based company offered to do the tests for free last December after the mothers raised their concerns with the New Brunswick Departments of Education and Transportation about the use of mixed tires on Bathurst High School's 21 passenger MFAVs.
The 21 passenger MFAV barreling down the test strip at Continental Tires test facility near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, February 24, 2010.Also known as "minibuses", the MFAVs replaced the now banned 15 passenger vans in which seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms basketball team and the coach's wife were killed on January 12, 2008.
Continental Tires' professional test driver Valdemar Carmona and his six member team from Texas conducted a series of tests using winter tires, all seasons and mixed tiaes under three different scenarios. Carmona, who is also a professional engineer showed that in each case winter tires were the safest when it came to braking, manouevreability, lane change, obstacle avoidance, lateral cornering and traction in winter conditions.
"It's a vindication of everything we have believed since we found out in October that Bathurst High School's 21 passenger MFAV was outfitted with mixed tires," says Marcella kelly, whose son Nikki was killed in the Bathurst tragedy.
Ana Acevedo, Isabelle Hains and Marcella Kelly stand in front of the 21 passenger MFAV donated by Girardin for the scientific tests. On location at Continental Tires test facility, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, February 24, 2010."We tried to tell Roland Hache and Denis Landry that the advice they were getting was wrong but they would not listen. We spoke to more than a dozen experts who agreed that winter tires are safest but still, the government refused to take their advice," Kelly explains.
"In late December, Valerie Kilfoil, the Department of Education's Director of Communications even referred to our experts as 'Buddy from the tire store'" says Kelly, calling it a "a swipe intended to diminish the advice we were passing on to the government."
"To think that the last four and a half months children have been transported to extra-curricular activities in those vehicles with unsafe tires. After what we've seen here in Michigan, it's a miracle nobody was killed."
Kelly, Hains and Acevedo have been lobbying Ministers Roland Hache and Denis Landry, for months to change the tire configurations on the 21 passenger vehicles but the Ministers deferred to the opinion of paid engineering consultant David Hoar of Fredericton-based Motion Design Consultants Inc.
Hoar insisted that mixed tires were safest on the vehicles, while failing to produce any scientific evidence to support his view. The mothers sought out the opinion of Canada's leading tire experts, including John Mahler, veteran automotive journalist with the Toronto Star's Wheels.ca and Nigel Mortimer, Head of Recalls and Safety at Transport Canada.
On November 4, Mr. Mortimer wrote to the Minister of Education and John McLaughlin, District 15 Superintent, urging them to switch to winter tires on all four axles, but the province refused, citing policy.
In one exchange dated November 20, a clearly frustrated Mortimer tells Mr. Hoar to do the testing himself if he doesn't believe Transport Canada.
"Since you are the only one believing that winter tires are not safer on the front as well as the rear I suggest that you perform your own testing to prove the rest of us wrong."
Kelly says that after they arrived in Michigan on Tuesday, they were informed by a journalist that the province of New Brunswick was going to change its policy on winter tires. Shortly after, Kelly spoke to the Minister of Education, Roland Hache, by phone and she says he tried to dissuade the mothers from doing the tests in Michigan. "He said it would be "horrible" if the Continental Tires study showed a different result than Transport Canada," says Kelly.
"It just goes to show how little Mr. Hache and his advisors know about tires," says Kelly, who explains that she and Hains and Acevedo have been forced to become experts in tires themselves since their children were killed.
"The last thing we expected to be doing two years ago was learning about tire tread depths, chassis and snow traction, but believe us, we've had no choice because it's been one struggle after the other with everyone we've had to deal with at the provincial government. They do not listen to common sense and expert advice."
Acevedo described the tests in Michigan as "an eye-opening experience" and says one of the outcomes was the obvious need for professional drivers behind the wheels of 21 passenger MFAVs. She says that the Department of Education's seven hour training scheme for volunteer drivers of these minibuses which was introduced after the Coroners Inquest in May is inadequate and is just another "tragedy waiting to happen."
"If you had been here and seen what we had seen, with professional drivers smashing through barriers and knocking over pylons in an MFAV with mixed tires you would understand how important it is for professional drivers to be behind the wheels of these vehicles," said Acevedo.
The mothers are returning to Bathurst tomorrow, Friday, February 26. In addition to photographs and YouTube videos taken on site, the mothers are releasing a professionally produced video that was paid for through a generous donation by an anonymous supporter. They will be taking a round the province tour to raise awareness of the need for Class 2 drivers upon their return from Michigan, times, dates and locations to be confirmed.
Test results are available for download here:
http://www.vanangels.ca/documents/mfav-snow-testing-summary.pdf
http://www.vanangels.ca/documents/mfav-demonstration.pdf
Photos available for download here:
http://www.vanangels.ca/images/DSC_0604.JPG
In this photo, the obstacle represents where the same bus outfitted with six winter tires on all four axles had stopped. Photo by John Mahler, February 24, 2010, Continental Tires Testing Facility, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
http://www.vanangels.ca/images/DSC_0605.JPG
Without winter tires on the front axle, the bus can't stop in the same distance. In this photo, all seasons on front, winters on rear. Photo by John Mahler, February 24, 2010, Continental Tires Testing Facility, near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
http://www.vanangels.ca/images/acevedo-hains-kelly-01.jpg
Ana, Isabelle and Marcella with Continental Tires' Texas based professional test driver, valdemar Carmona, standing outside the test vehicle supplied by Giradin, at Continental test facility near Sault St. Marie, Michigan, USA, February 24, 2010.
