General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

You missed a big point Dan, The police are there to find out the truth as to what happened.  If in that process someone broke the law, then yes, charges up to including criminal charges could be laid. If criminal charges are laid, then there is an expectation through judicial proceedings that the police maintain certain investigative practices. The police must maintain carriage of the investigation until that determination is made in the interest of preserving evidence and ensuring information is not spread to the public as a result of inter-agency involvement.  Leaked information could create a bias to prospective jurors and defence could and would likely argue an unfair trial.  

After a trial, or if charges are deemed not to be laid in this particular case, there is nothing to stop other agencies from reviewing the case. Additionally, once police release the scene, there is nothing prohibiting other agencies from conducting an inquiry.   Additionally,  people died, so you cant rule out a Coroners Inquest which would provide recommendations for changes to prevent this type of incident in the future.

A motor vehicle accident does not fit the mandate of the National Transportation Bureau, as such, perhaps you should focus your attention to this point.  It would seem to me that the public would be better served if changes were made by the Federal Government with respect to  the mandate of the National Transport Bureau to investigate any commercial vehicle that is primarily used for the transportation of persons.

I agree the lack of mandate is a problem, and the TSB should investigate at least all commercial transport crashes, if not all private MVCs (they already have the authority to investigate non-commercial private plane crashes, train crashes, etc.).

I'm not sure why you think I'm missing the point.  More than one entity can investigate at the same time.  In fact, the police will sometimes investigate plane crashes and other incidents as well, for example, in the case of terrorism.  The police investigate, track down, and the crown prosecutes the offenders.  But it's the TSB which could say suggest different screening methods to catch them before this happens, or changes to plane design and protocol to mitigate danger and reduce harm.  They work together, they are not opposed, and they have different roles.  "After a trial" which would be YEARS later is far far too late for an investigation, most of the evidence would be lost by then.  And the TSB is generally not going to leak data that the police don't want leaked (they already work with them on plane crashes).