Driver from Humboldt tragedy gets eight-year sentence

by Truck News-West

MELFORT, Sask. – Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the truck driver who caused the Humboldt Broncos team bus collision, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Judge Inez Cardinal read the sentencing in court today. Sidhu pleaded guilty to 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The prosecutor in the case was seeking a 10-year sentence followed by a 10-year driving prohibition.

Media reports from the sentencing indicate the judge said a strong sentence was warranted, but Sidhu’s guilty plea and other factors meant he did not deserve the maximum 14-year sentence.


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  • What a shame ! All truck drivers should stop driving immediately to contest such a harsh sentence …………..

    Hopefully all people who intend on becoming truck drivers will think twice before entering the trade . While they condemn this poor soul for being “unsafe”(an accident) , they allow fuel hauling on roads with trucks and tankers that are not designed safely for such cargo !!!

    And they want to start recruiting kids due to a mythical driver shortage ??? Now that’s FRAUD ! Why aren’t these hocus pocus immoral story tellers being condemned ?

    “Federal Govt: The ‘Truck Driver Shortage’ Doesn’t Exist”

    https://www.thetruckersreport.com/federal-govt-truck-driver-shortage-doesnt-exist/

    And these so called associations claim that the country needs more immigrants to solve their hocus pocus driver shortage myth ???

    While ,
    “Canada sees 300,000 new immigrants — the largest influx in a century”
    https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-sees-300000-new-immigrants-the-largest-influx-in-a-century

    Clearly these so called associations have lost all credibility as far as I am concerned and they should be called out for a public apology and hand in their RESIGNATIONS !

    Then we will send some of those immigrants to fill their positions due to the shortage these associations will have caused in their positions due to their lies !

    Have a nice day !(wink)

    • The effing guy killed 16 people! He’s darn lucky to only get 8 years! He could and should have received the max of 14 years! A blind man could have seen that stop sign. Too busy watching a tarp flap on one of his wagons? The idiot should have pulled over and fixed it! Thank God he will be deported after he gets out!!

      • He fell asleep at the wheel …………….. I mentioned that point in another comment . Apparently Truck News didn’t publish it along with many other comments of mine . They seem to publish only the one’s they want . They appear to be bias

      • Let’s also keep in mind that there are too many variables involved to come to the conclusion that the driver “killed” 14 passengers . Yes an unfortunate accident occurred , however those 14 passengers that unfortunately passed away were not wearing seat belts .

        Could seat belts have prevented their deaths ? And if so , then who is to blame for not having implemented seat belts in the bus ? Isn’t it a “safety” law to wear a seat belt in a moving vehicle ? Why didn’t that bus have any passenger seat belts ? Furthermore , if it’s against the law to stand and walk around in a moving vehicle , then why are bus passengers exempt from following this law ?

        A greyhound bus has a restroom at the back and passengers can walk through the bus to the rest room while the bus is in motion . This shouldn’t be allowed . Just like a passenger in a semi truck cannot just get up from their seat and walk into the sleeper berth while the vehicle is in motion .

        Municipal(city) buses also allow passengers to stand in the bus . This should not be allowed . It’s unsafe .

        I cannot blame the truck driver for the deaths due to the many variables involved before coming to a conclusion of actual cause of death . I can only blame the truck driver for running through a stop sign and causing an unfortunate devastating accident . The “actual cause” of death is debatable .

        Therefore 8 years is quite harsh due to the many variables concerning the actual cause of death . In my humble opinion . Apparently there was a witness sitting in a car across the road waiting at the stop sign …….. That witness stated that the bus rocketed through the intersection . And with all the signs and signals warning of an approaching stop sign at the intersection , the only logical explanation would be that the driver fell asleep . He stated himself that he didn’t even realize hitting the bus until after doing so . To me that would explain being asleep at the wheel and being awakened by the crash ………

  • He get deported but he come back to Canada with new name and the canadian goverment will give hom hos papers again
    I drive a fruck but theses imergrants have no respect for canada laws and when l drive the 401 from london to milton the east iii ndians will pass 2 trucks in the left lane where are not alowed to and the dot or opp are sitting on yheir butts not drivong theses roads and forceing the laws they say they are but l may see 4 from windsor to london puttnam scales they just insidw having coffie teaching rockies how to be on a power trip people are born and pass away and before your born u sit with god and say who qhere and how you are born live and pass away l have my 2 daughters 2 years apart pass away l know how it feels to lose a child and glad they are in heaven not in this country where goverment only cares on how much money they can fill their pockets with

  • This should validate my point :

    July 11 2018

    Transport Canada to make seat belts mandatory on highway buses

    https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/transport-canada-to-make-seat-belts-mandatory-on-highway-buses-687890291.html

    https://www.nhtsa.gov/seat-belts/seat-belts-save-lives

    http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2018/2018-07-11/html/sor-dors143-2-eng.html

    Unfortunately it took another 14 lives to make this clear !
    Unfortunately it will only be implemented on highway buses built on September 1 2020 or later ……..

    Quote
    “We’ve all heard the message to buckle up over the years, and I think it’s time we brought this approach to highway buses too. By having seat belts on highway buses, we can help reduce injuries in severe collisions, such as rollovers, and improve safety for everyone.”   
    The Honourable Marc Garneau,
    Minister of Transport

  • Aside from achieving “vengeance” which is counterproductive , I don’t see what incarcerating him for eight years is going to achieve .

    It certainly won’t prevent others from going through stop signs . It won’t prevent distraction behind the wheel nor prevent falling asleep at the wheel etc.

    By incarcerating him we haven’t solved the “problem” . We simply stopped that one person from acting in society for a certain period of time ,not others .

    Now he becomes a tax burden wasting years of his life in a penitentiary . And what if he were to decide to seek vengeance as well once liberated ? Where does the insanity stop ?

    If half the driving population in Canada were to go through stop signs at intersections in the next six months and cause devastating accidents , are we to incarcerate them all ?

    Read the judge’s statement. She didn’t understand how he could go through the intersection and not stop due to all the warning signals . What does that tell you ? The “judge” doesn’t “understand” ! Though the “judge” still had the right to sentence him ??? How can one make an appropriate decision without understanding ?

    8 years for 16 lives doesn’t even make sense . What does that equate to ? 6 months per life ? Therefore if one person were to go through a stop sign at an intersection and one loss of life came from such an act , then 6 months of incarceration would be the decision rendered ?

    And by the way , removing a privilege to drive does not guarantee that the person will abide . How many times have we seen people who were sentenced for driving under the influence of alcohol lose their driving privilege and caught driving again without the right to drive ? Too many !

    And what would be the solution to that problem ? A harsher sentence ?

    Apparently we are good at causing problems and retaliating , but not so good at preventing them . Perhaps the problem resides in the way we think ……… In my humble opinion .

  • From a different perspective leaving out emotion from the equation . 16 lives were lost . For simplicity sake I’ll age them at 20 years of age each . And I’ll assume that the 16 of them would remain in Canada as tax payers for at least 45 years . And I’ll assume $30k per person annually in taxes . That’s $21.6 Million in taxes lost without accounting for indexed inflation .

    Then we incarcerate a tax payer for eight years who isn’t a menace to society which costs us approximately $50k per year amounting to $400k , plus he won’t be contributing to society nor paying much in tax while incarcerated . And then we will deport him ???

    So we lost another $240k over the length of eight years for that one person and when added up with the 16 lost lives it equates to approximately a little over $22 million in lost tax dollars .

    The guy just cost Canada more than $22 Million minimum !

    The way I see it is he shouldn’t be incarcerated , he should be educated in a field capable of at least earning and paying back those financial losses to society .

    Sentence Example : If he were educated in business administration and became a CEO for some big corporation , he would earn that amount within a year or two max . AND he would be a huge tax contributor . Plus you educate him in philanthropy .

    I hope he thinks of doing that on his own and uses our tax dollars wisely while incarcerated to educate himself and become a huge contributor to his country when he’s liberated . At least he would get something out of those 8 years and look like a genius once deported ………….. And make us look really silly in the process for locking him up and then throwing him away .

    Wisdom always prevails ,NOT vengeance !