Riding the rails: Before LRT, Westboro bus crash witness could not use public transit without panic – Ottawa Citizen

This week, this newspaper decided to spend several days during rush hour along the Confederation Line, talking to passengers and riding the rails. The following pieces profile just a few of the countless transit users with stories to tell about commuting on the Confederation Line. If you have one of your own that you’d like to share, please get in touch at ottcopyeditors@postmedia.com. 

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The last time Justine Draus felt comfortable riding an OC Transpo bus was a trip downtown in the hours following the Westboro bus crash last January.

The now-27-year-old uOttawa student had just started a new job that week, and was waiting at Westboro Station for an eastbound bus when a double-decker traveling westbound on the other side of the Transitway mounted the curb, hurtled toward the station, and smashed into the steel awning. Draus, frozen in shock, saw the moment of impact and all the horror that followed. The crash killed three people and grievously injured many more.

Hours later, Draus, other witnesses and uninjured crash survivors were shuttled away from the scene in another bus. Many with waiting rides got off at Tunney’s Pasture, while Draus continued downtown as the bus resumed normal service.

“That was when it happened,” she says, more than a year later, in an interview with this newspaper. “It really just suddenly hit me, everything that had happened.”

She started panicking, and broke down. Once off the bus, she couldn’t face the idea of getting on another.

Months went by before Draus felt ready to try transit again, but on that and every occasion since, a visceral panic reaction took hold within a few bus stops.

“I think just being on the bus, something about that brings the memory back to my body,” she said. Despite her best efforts to overpower the reaction with reason – she wasn’t actually on the bus that crashed, the likelihood of another tragedy is very slim — her body seems to remember what her mind would rather forget.

“It’s just embarrassing when you’re trying to arrive somewhere and you’re in tears and hyperventilating and it’s not like you can just explain to all the strangers, ‘This is why I’m like this, it’s OK.’ So I just gave up,” said Draus.

When her classes at uOttawa resumed in September — she’s obtaining a second undergraduate degree in biopharmaceutical science — Draus would walk the 45 minutes to an hour between her home and school to avoid taking a bus. With the opening of the Confederation Line light-rail system, and the prospect of colder weather on the horizon, Draus decided to take a chance on OC Transpo once again.

To her surprise, light-rail transit has not provoked the same panic response as bus travel. That’s not to say it’s been easy — for a time, Draus would only ride the train if she could secure a specific seat by the doors and emergency alarm, outside the morning rush hour. She still won’t travel at the front of the train.

“I’m trying to not have this dictate things,” she said, referring to her newfound transit unease, and her determination to make the LRT work for her anyway.

“I’m definitely no longer comfortable on transit. I won’t be sitting on my phone or anything, I’ll be aware. But at least it’s something I can take now.”

That said, Draus also notes she will rely exclusively on her car once she’s no longer taking classes on campus where parking isn’t feasible, and unable to opt out of the transit pass her tuition pays for (she’s tried).

She’s alarmed by the problems the LRT system is plagued with. If train service goes down temporarily and replacement bus service is put in effect, she’ll be walking or calling an Uber.

She’s also perturbed by what she describes as “a lack of transparency” in the city’s response to both the Confederation Line issues and the Westboro bus crash.

“Basically they’re saying, you don’t matter, you don’t get to know this, only we do,” she said. “That doesn’t instil confidence.”

For example, while OC Transpo has conducted a “safety review” of the Westboro collision, its results have not been made public.

In response to criticism of its post-crash silence, the city has said it’s waiting on the findings of police and other agencies’ investigations as to the factors that contributed to the crash, before outlining any steps it will take to prevent a future tragedy.

Meanwhile, Draus has resolved to seek out support to help address the continued effect the crash and its aftermath is having on her state of mind. She made the decision after breaking down during a recent job interview when asked to tell the interviewer about a difficult situation, how she handled it, and what she would have done differently.

Draus said she constantly thinks back to her decision not to cross the Transitway to support the injured crash victims before first responders took over. There was glass everywhere, and first-aid training taught her to avoid a situation where she could injure herself and create more work for paramedics.

“I do have a lot of regret,” she said. “It’s what you are theoretically supposed to do. But does it feel good? No. Because I know there are these people who have life-altering injuries. And being there would not have changed that in any way, and I’m aware of that, too. And yet it doesn’t go away. Being conscious of all this stuff doesn’t make the feelings go away.”

With a file from Andrew Duffy

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