Letter urges compassion for truck driver in Humboldt crash

The woman who wrote a widely seen message to the truck driver involved in the Humboldt bus tragedy says she’s hoping people can keep their reactions positive.

The driver’s name hasn’t been released, but news broke Tuesday evening that he’d been working for a small Calgary-based company for about a month before the crash. The company has been pulled off the road pending investigations by authorities in Saskatchewan and Alberta, which is a standard part of the response to any serious crash involving a commercial trucking firm.

Ottawa-based university student Deanna Cummings was behind an open letter supporting the driver shared well over 100,000 times since she posted it  to her Facebook page Sunday.

Cummings said she’s heard from hundreds of people since she posted the message.

“From people all over the world. People who have had children in hockey, or truckers who have experienced accidents themselves, just people sharing their own stories of loss. Things like that, and it’s just been really supportive.”

Cummings said she’s also been told the driver’s family saw her note and passed it along.

“I did have a message saying that it was passed along to him. I know that he obviously is not doing very well and he has been having a lot of turmoil because of what has happened,” she said.

With an RCMP investigation still ongoing, Cummings said she hopes people can continue being compassionate rather than speculating about whether the driver was at fault.

“Who can really throw the first stone? Has anyone who’s a driver never ever made a mistake?” she said.

While the internet is notorious as a haven for vicious comments, she said the last few days of messages have overwhelmingly shown people at their best.

“I feel like people can recognize, at the end of the day, that it’s a tragedy no matter which way you turn it,” she said