Driven: How the Bathurst Tragedy Ignited a Crusade for Change

by Richard Foot

Shortlisted, East Coast Literary Award and Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction

It was over in seconds.

In the early hours of January 12, 2008, seven members of a high school basketball team and their coach's wife died instantly when their school van collided with a tractor trailer. Travelling in dirty weather, minutes from their Bathurst, New Brunswick, homes, the impact forever shattered the lives of eight families and their community.

In the weeks that followed the horrific crash, two women who lost their sons in the accident forged a bond. Ana Acevedo and Isabelle Hains were transformed by their unimaginable grief into unlikely agents of courage and change. It was Isabelle and Ana who pushed the provincial government into holding an inquest into the accident. It was Isabelle and Ana who pushed the province into following the recommendations of that inquest. And it was Isabelle and Ana who made it safer for children to travel to extracurricular activities, in New Brunswick and across the country.

A gripping story told in heartbreaking detail, Driven reveals the truth behind one of this country's worst school tragedies, and the two women who fought for justice in the name of their sons.

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[Anne Caverhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This respectful account of how two women besieged with grief, turned their sorrow into anger at a system that however inadvertently, had neglected the safety of a high school basketball team returning from a game only minutes from home.

The accident itself, on an icy, slushy, road in northern New Brunswick was so painful to absorb, that the small community of Bathurst came together in their sorrow, to bury 8 members of a basketball team and the coach drivers wife, all of whom died when their van was jolted headfirst into the path of an oncoming transport truck. And Bathurst did it beautifully culminating in a Disney like film with the remaining players and new recruits eventually going on to win a provincial championship. This small city and its key players warrant respect for their sensitive leadership around this horrific loss. This book does not debate that and establishes in its reporting, the brave reality of many as the community attempted to process its collective grief.

But the process of grief is individualized and propelled by their own devastating sorrow, 2, later 3 of the mothers became provincially and then nationally renowned, as their demands for accountability resulted in a Coroners Inquest with clearly defined recommendations for winter tires, better road safety, and responsibilities within the school system for after school travel. Yet the women didn’t stop there and garnered with support from Transport Canada, a national Union, Air Canada, and Federal MPs created a movement for safety that is the true story of courage stemming from this horrible tragedy.

Their work didn’t bring their boys back obviously but this respectful account of their raw tenacity is the story that needed to be told and Richard Foot, with journalistic detail, does it beautifully. Children transported to extra curricular activities are now safer, with kudos to these mothers for making it so and to this author for telling their story.

[Ann Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisite and heartbreaking portrait of mother grief. Meticulously researched and shocking in its ultimate conclusions. A must-read for every Canadian parent who believes that governments always act with our children's best interests at heart.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crusade is a good word: the destructive power of the mindless mob and how Foot is trying to exploit the suffering of people to sell a cheap reportage.