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30000 copies vol 2 no 35 a metroland community newspaper saturday august 30 1986 44 pages 25 cents a dump truck loaded with 20 tonnes of sand collided with a loaded school bus on brock rd north of claremont thursday but miraculously no one was hurt damage to the two vehicles is estimated at more than 100000 and durham regional police are still investigating more photos on page 7 chris shanahan bus crash tests disaster plan by chris shanahan staff reporter uxbridge cottage hospital was planning a mock disaster this fall to test its emergency response system but hospital staff ambulance attendants firefighters and police found themselves in the middle of a reallife disaster thursday morning when a dump truck collided with a school bus carrying 45 children to an outing at pleasure valley park according to durham regional police a ford truck was south bound on brock road when it struck the back end of a charter- ways bus driven by whitbys ronald henshaw 30 the truck flipped on its side and dumped a 20tonne load of sand on the road south of the park entr ance driver daniel henry 44 of holland landing was not injured police said the bus was apparently turning around to re enter the park at the time of the collision which caused more than 100000 in property damage ambulances from uxbridge whitby markham and stouffville raced to the scene shortly after 10 am and began tending to the pas sengers members of the whitby youth action group at st john the evangelist catholic church the emergency vehicles trans ported a total of 23 people to ux bridge cottage hospital where doctors treated patients for abra sions bruises and sprains none of the children were seriously hurt and all but three were released wednesday said director of nursing m catherine renwick anna abate paul jar- rat and sharon pugh suffered head and other injuries and were held overnight for observation the rest were taken to ux bridge fire hall to be picked up by their parents a stretch of brock road north of claremont was closed off for 3va hours following the accident police said one of pleasure valleys three coop education students paula hadden rushed to the site and co ordinated the staffs relief effort ironically two of her brothers were on the illfated bus trip that she herself helped book into the park about 10 staff members were among the first on the scene and they used their firstaid training to quickly help the injured passen gers those assisting and comforting children at the scene included sharon craig jeff newell russ thomas and unionville sisters karen and susan murphy whose father ken murphy coowns the outdoor recreation park and was himself close by throughout the ordeal they did an excellent job- what we were pleased with was the initiative they showed mr murphy said of his employees they brought up coats blankets and firstaid equipment all before the fire departments and ambu lances were here uxbridge fire chief norm james said all the children were out of the bus when we arrived his men assisted by firefighters from pickering claremont and stouffville rendered first aid and comforted some of the other shaken children police commended the ambu lance workers firefighters and durham region employees for their assistance and quick ac tion aiding the crash victims we were coming out of the place pleasure valley to turn around and we were just ready to turn around when the truck came over the hill said robbie st pierre 11 a passenger at the front of the bus it wasnt even stopping and it hit the bus following the rearend colli sion the boy said i was terri fied couldnt stop shaking nurse renwick said the mishap was a successful test of the hospit als emergency response system we were going to have a mock disaster in the fall to test our hos pital plan but we just did have a very effective test of our disaster plan she explained after the accident a mishap involving more than eight people is considered a disas ter situation noted uxbridge hos pital administrator rene kri- zanc the bustruck crash has promp ted requests from some area resi dents to have the speed reduced on the 80kmper hour stretch of brock road paralleling pleasure valley and the medical staff at ux bridge cottage hospital has come out in support of proposed legisla tion to make seatbelts mandatory in all school buses the consensus of the medical staff is that we probably wouldnt have had any of these children in hospital if seatbelt legislation had been in place mr krizanc said police continue to investigate thursdays accident whats inside directory comment p4 entertainment p18 childrens page f3z church pagevp23 sportstiajp24vj 9reafipte3vl p27 to 34 casrfied p35 to 43 claudcttc trembley singing her heart out18