) Victim vows | to stop truck D E U News Reporter ian@nsnews.com MIKE Danks reclined in a Lions Gate Hospital bed Tuesday morning, saying he hoped no one else would have to go through what he did on Monday. Danks was one of the two people taken to hospital after a truck rear- ended the North Shore Rescue vol- untcer’s van Monday on 21st Street in West Vancouver. “J just remember it sounded like a really big explosion behind the van and I was getting propelled forward into another van,” he said. His leg, which sustained lacera- tions in the accident, had been oper- ated on the night before. The proce- dure left him nauscous and on med- ication. “I just remember being so scared. I was just frightened for my life.” He heard the screaming of the driver of the van he hit. He saw a lady look at him. She started screaming, but Danks said she helped him a lot and providsd comfort to him. Danks did not suffer broken bones in the accident, but had cuts on his bod,, legs and head. While [ooking at a newspaper photo of his van, which had been sheared lengthwise in the accident, Danks said: “I’m just lucky to be alive ... and [ didn’: have a passenger because they wouldn’t have been so fortunate. {t's something | don’t want anyone else to ever have to go through.” But it’s not the first time that vie- tims of North Shore truck disasters have made that plea. Just last year, Josh Bjornson, whose father was killed by a runaway dump truck st 22nd and Marine, was uttering simi- lar words. Said Bjornson after his father was killed: “We're going to work our hardest so that other families won't have to deal with this.” Allan Danks, Mike’s father, said he would approach the provincial highways department and all the other regulatory agencies to prevent similar accidents. ; “I'm going to encourage West Vancouver to be as expedient as they can to get on to the Ministry of Highways and say we need this tomorrow, we don’t need this next week. Because quite frankly I under- stand (Mike) is so lucky to get away with this. It should never have hap- pened.” He castigated bureaucracy tor its slow pace and added he will be writ- ing letters to Lois Boone. “Ir’s just bloody terrifving,” he said about his son’s accident. “It’s very upsetting.” B.C. Tel would nor release the name of its injured employee, who was driving the other van. A_ press release faxed to the News said the employee suffered friction burns on his arms when an air bag popped epen. He also sprained his left ankle when it became stuck under the tront pedal. The injuries would have been worse without the air bag, said B.C. Wednesday. December 17, 1997 ~ North Shore News - 3 NEWS photo Mike Weketieta TRUCK accident victim Mike Danks is comforted by his father Allan at Lions Gate Hospital Tuesday. The Danks family will lobby agen- Tel. cies to act to prevent similar accidents. Brakes claimed to be new From page 1 the side of the road. Van driver Mike Danks, 21, and a B.C, Tel employee had been taken to hospital. Police said the dump truck, carrying a load of sand at approx- imately 12:12 p.m., lost control while travelling south on 21st. West Vancouver Police Sgr. Jim Almas said the truck hit a southbound van at 21st and Inglewood, pushing the van into the intersection where it hit the northbound B.C. Tet van. Motor vehicle inspector Jay Northcott said Tuesday that it appeared as if the truck's prob- lems were caused by improperly adjusted brakes. Northcott said two of the truck's six brakes were beyond what he called the safe operating limit and two were right at that limit. “We haven’t really found any- thing specifically mechanical wrong with it other than lack of adjustment,” he said. Two properly adjusted brakes and two borderline brakes are not enough to stop a fully loaded truck going down a steep hill like 21st, Norchcort said. He added, however, that the tull inspection is not finished. Almas said inspectors have determined that weight was not a factor in the accident. Almas said the truck driver was questioned by police Monday. He spoke little English. Police released him because they could not find an interpreter Monday. Police questioned him further Tuesday with the help of a Punjabi interpreter. The owner of the truck in Monday's accident, Sarbjit Sall, said his company’s five trucks had been transporting sand to 28th and Mathers. “Everybody is shocked by this,” he said. “I have no idea North Shore truck crashes take their toll A summary of major runaway truck incidents on North Shore hills during the past seven years: West Vancouver ® Dee. 15, 1997: A truck loaded with sand ran the stop sign at Mathers and ended up in a yard at 21st and Inglewood after crashing into two vans. The rwo van drivers were injured. @ Sept 27, 1996: An overloaded dump truck with malfunctioning brakes carecned down the 22nd Streer hill to Marine Drive. Pedestrian Bjorn Bjornson, 58, a retired paramedic, was killed. Another person sustained a broken pelvis. Rajdeep Singh Khosa, 29, of Surrey, was charged with Motor Vehicle Act infractions; @ July 1990: A truck with unadjusted brakes and- loaded with hot asphalt careened down the hill to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal and slammed into a parked van waiting to board a ferry. A woman and her daughter were killed. Truck driver Jatinderpal Singh Ubhi was convicted on ave counts of crimi- nal negligence causing death and four counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. North Vancouver @ june 24, 1997: A runaway dump truck on Mountain Highway crashed through a concrete barrier and tree near Lynmouth Ave. Driver Rajinder Kumar Dewar, 31, was charged with Motor Vehicle Act infractions of having improper brake pertormance and making false or deceptive inspection reports. He was fined $1,610; @ Aug. 16, 1995: Truck driver Baljinder Singh, 37, of Surrey, dies along with another motorist, Wavde Vietor Police, 34, of Burnaby. The crash took place on the ‘Trans-Canada Highway near the Mountain Highway overpass, on 2 section of highway known as The Cut. Singh’s tractor-tzail- er rig with malfunctioning brakes was the cause of the crash that involved six vehicles. — Auna Marie D’Angelo what I’m going to do now. I can’t think abour anything right now. My brain is not working properly right now.” But Sall said he decided his trucks would no longer work at the site because of the accident. Sall added his trucks are safety inspected every six months and again. every month by _ his Richmond-based _tirm’s mechan- ics, Each day, the trucks are inspected by the drivers, he said. “The truck was in good shape. It had all new brakes and new drums put in three months ago.” - Residents call for some municipal action from page 1 she had been in contact with authorities about the latest crash. Said Boname: “I have calked to (the chief of police) today and he did say that, as far as he’s concerned, it really gets right down to the fact that the province has to take a much stronger stand on training and enforcement of the trucking industry.” The Richmond-based dump truck involved in the accident was fully loaded with sand and was reported to be in trouble as far up the hill as Nelson Avenue. The truck ran the stop sign at Mathers and ended up in the yard of an eastside 21st Street home after crashing into two vans near Inglewood. West Vancouver has a long and tragic histo- ry of runaway truck accidents. Monday’s accident is the fifth incident of its kind. In the past five years, there have been at least four known incidents of trucks losing their brakes on the municipality’s steep hills. A May 1995 report from then-senior engi- neer Gordon MeKay reported that “the safery of downhill truck traffic on the steep north/south hills in Ambleside and Dundarave has been a matter of concern to district staff and the general public tor several years.” The 1995 reporc also alerted council to the inherent danger of poorly maintained truck traffic traveling down the hills, and called for a ban on southbound truck traffic on 15th, 21st and 22nd streets. Stated the report: “It is still clear that the potential for mechanical failure on poorly maintained trucks does exist and the conse- quences of such an occurrence could be trag- ic.” Coun, Ron Wood knew it would only be a matter of time before another runaway truck accident occurred. He predicted it over a year ago, “Ir will happen again,” he warned back in October 1996. He made the statement after Bjorn Byornson was killed when he was hit by a ran- away truck at the intersection of 22nd Street and Marine Drive in Seprember 1996. Back in 1996, Wood had requested a report on the provision of pull-out areas on 15th and 2 Ist streets for trucks to check their brakes. It was deemed too expensive at the time, but now Wood says council is again pursuing the idea along with the Ministry of Transportation and Highways (MoTH) and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). Earlier this year, council supported a tem- porary six-month ban on heavy trucks travel- ling south on 15th, 2ist and 22nd streets. Said Coun, Victor Durman, “We passed the motion to stop the traffic coming down (the hills), but we've been thwarted by the (province). So if (citizens) want to write to the (province) and point out the foolishness of that decision then I think thar would be a great idea.” When asked what council was going to do to address the problem immediately, Wood said: “We are limited as vo the alternatives that we can implement. The Ministry of Highways won't support putting signs on the (Upper Levels) highway not allowing trucks to come down (the hills}.” When asked if council could control and reé- route the trucks once they entered municipal streets, Wood replied: “It’s difficult. What do you do? Have them turn around the block and go back up the hill?” Inglewood Avenue resident David Janzen has had enough. He appeared before council Monday night td again ask for action. He was upset with council’s lukewarm response to his request. Back in October 1996, he wrote a letter to council asking for trucks to be banned from 15th, 21st and 22nd street hills. He continues to maintain that it is council's responsibility to act on behalf of the municipality. “It’s their problem,” he said. “There’s no reason tor trucks to go down (these streets). A few minutes later and there could have been kids walking there.” An emotional Ria York said she feels lucky to be alive. The area resident said she was spared her fife on Monday only by a twist of fate. She said that if she had left her house only seconds earlier she would have been killed. “I was scared and I feel | was born again today,” said York. The dump truck crashed through the bushes in her yard.