A year after it happened, Brian Wilson still cringes when he imagines his elderly father climbing on to a city bus, falling hard down the aisle, sliding backward and landing under a seat -- breaking his hip and shoulder.

"He was just in pain and agony for the rest of his life," said Wilson.

Last winter, 79-year-old Alexander Wilson was relatively healthy for his age and still living on his own, in Guelph, Ont. According to his son, his daily routine was to hop on a city bus to go visit his buddies.

The day of his accident, Wilson boarded the bus, as usual, but his son claims the driver didn't wait for his father to sit down before driving off.

"In the snap of a finger," Wilson said. "A bus driver takes off before a person is seated. An old man with a cane. And it took any quality of life away from him that he had."

Wilson showed CTV News pictures of his father's extensive bruises, taken at his hospital bed. He told us his father never recovered -- and became confused and confined to a wheelchair. His family felt they had no choice but to send Mr. Wilson to a nursing home. Within six months of the accident, he died from prostate cancer. The family believes the injuries he suffered on the bus shortened his life.

"My dad was a proud man," Wilson told CTV News. "It changed his life for the rest of his life and it was like they didn't really care."

The Wilson family has filed a lawsuit against the Guelph Transportation Commission, alleging negligence. CTV News asked the City of Guelph to comment on the case, but it refused, citing the lawsuit. The Wilson family's allegations have not been proven in court.

The union representing bus drivers in Guelph told CTV News injuries are to be expected, though, given drivers' current working conditions. Stephen MacNeil is president of Local 1189 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. He told us route schedules are too tight, buses are too crowded and drivers are stretched too thin.

"There's more cars, more lights and more people on the bus," MacNeil said. "All the (city bus) drivers in Canada have the same issues."

"We've got fewer vehicles carrying more people," said Bob Kinnear, who represents Toronto's bus drivers, for the same union. "I mean when you are squashing people into vehicles like sardines there is definitely an increased risk for passengers. Sometimes passengers aren't even able to hold on."

He added, "There is definitely a safety risk." Kinnear also said it's a problem he hears from across the country.

In Toronto, an average of five passengers every day report being injured while riding the bus. Those reports are called "on board injuries" and they only include people who file claims for injuries they suffered while riding the bus, not while getting on or off. That amounts to 8,141 injury claims in the last five years, in one Canadian city alone.

The Toronto Transit Commission told CTV News many of those claimants don't get much money from the TTC, though. Spokesman Marilyn Bolton said every claim goes through a tough and thorough investigation, and they can take years to resolve.

"They don't pay a lot of big claims," said Jack Fireman, a Toronto personal injury lawyer, who has fought and won several cases against the TTC.

"People are scared off. They read some nonsense in the newspaper or they go to some lawyer who doesn't know what they are talking about and they are told how difficult it is (to sue)."

Fireman thinks claimants should fight harder for compensation. He doesn't buy the driver's explanation that crowded buses and tight schedules are the main problem.

"For them to say we don't have time or we can't do this or we can't do that, that's garbage. Because they are paid to be good drivers and people pay to get on that bus."

CTV News asked Bob Kinnear of the transit union, "What do you say to people who say it's your fault? That you should never drive away while an older person is standing up on a bus?"

He answered, "Well, my suggestion to them would be to talk to their politicians to ensure that we have more vehicles out there for the fares that they are paying."

Brian Wilson just hopes that, by telling his father's story, drivers and passengers will take more care to look out for elderly people like his father, when they get on the bus.

"What's more important?" Wilson asked, "Somebody's schedule or somebody's life?"

Email address: whistleblower@ctv.ca
Phone number: 416-313-2494

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