An official with the New Brunswick government says it used expert advice on making its passenger vans for students safe amid concerns from parents that the vehicles aren't fully outfitted with winter tires.

Valerie Kilfoil, a spokeswoman with the Department of Education, says the government got advice from Michelin and Goodyear on the best way to configure tires on 21-passenger vans.

She says they recommended installing two winters on the rear and two ribbed tires on the front to improve vehicle control.

Three women who lost their sons in a horrific van crash in northern New Brunswick are accusing the province of not doing enough to ensure students' safety.

The women from Bathurst are pushing the government to test the winter tires being used on the 21-passenger minibuses now operated by the Education Department.

Seven members of the Bathurst High School boys basketball team, along with their coach's wife, were killed when their 15-passenger school van collided with a transport truck during a snowstorm in January 2008.