An RCMP officer walks past the van that was carrying the Bathurst High School boys' basketball team after it collided with a transport truck while returning from a game in Moncton in January 2008. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

An RCMP accident reconstruction specialist told a coroner's jury that underinflated and partly worn tires contributed to the tragic 2008 van crash that killed seven Bathurst High School basketball players and their coach's wife.

Cpl. Annie Nielson first released her report into the deadly New Brunswick crash in July, but she explained to the five-person coroner's jury some of the factors that led to the collision with a transport truck.

In her testimony Thursday morning, she told the jury that the van's all-season tires were worn and improperly inflated.

She said if winter tires had been installed on the van it would have had better traction in the slippery conditions that led to the accident on Jan. 18, 2008.

One back tire should have been inflated to 80 pounds per square inch, but it was at 34 PSI. Meanwhile, the two front tires should have been inflated to 55 PSI but were at 40 and 42 PSI respectively.

There was three centimetres of slush on the highway at the time of the crash and Neilson said there was a five- to six-centimetre drop between the road and the shoulder in the area of the collision, likely caused by erosion.

Nielson said that could have also been a factor in the crash.

"For a vehicle to drop off that roadway under slippery conditions, steering input to bring the vehicle back onto the roadway could make the successful recovery of the vehicle very difficult," she told reporters.

Wayne Lord, the team's coach and driver of the van, veered onto the shoulder when a transport approached. When he tried to correct, he lost control of the vehicle, which slid into the path of the oncoming truck.

Similar crash in December 2008

Asked if she knew of any other incidents along that section of Route 8 in northern New Brunswick, Neilson told the inquest that there was a similar crash in the same location in December 2008.

That collision also involved slippery road conditions. When the driver of a car veered onto the shoulder as a tractor-trailer approached, it also lost control when it tried to straighten out.

Neilson said there were injuries in that collision but no one was killed.

After the second crash, Neilson told reporters, the RCMP wrote to the Department of Transportation to see if something could be done about the drop between the highway and the shoulder.

Neilson said she's concerned that the drop from road to shoulder still exists, and that is why she mentioned the second accident in her testimony.

"If there is a contributing factor to a collision … that we can identify and possibly fix, we like to bring it up," she said.

She said she believes Transport Canada is also interested in doing a study to see how the transition from the road to the shoulder can contribute to highway crashes.

Greg Sypher, a Transport Canada expert, who also investigated the accident, testified at the inquiry on Thursday afternoon.

He said driver error, possibly because of fatigue, could have also contributed to the collision.

Lord had exceeded the 14-hour limit of on-duty driving on the day of the crash. He also told the coroner's jury that Lord should have kept a driver's log but had not done so.

There was more talk about seatbelt use at the inquest, but Sypher suggested the outcome for the seven young men ejected from the vehicle would not have changed if they had been wearing seatbelts.

But he did say that Beth Lord, the coach's wife, who had been wearing her seatbelt improperly, might have survived if the seatbelt had been correctly used.

The inquest is expected to last about two weeks.

The jury will have the opportunity to make non-binding recommendations to prevent similar crashes in the future.

Earlier reports by the RCMP and Transport Canada have indicated the school's van was not in good condition and would have likely failed a safety inspection.

Neilson's RCMP report in July also said the van had faulty brakes and a rusting body.