A young mother is killed this week on Highway 15 in Manitoba and as it turns out her brother was paralyzed recently in an accident in South Africa. Hard to imagine the pain being experienced by the young children in this story and their grandparents who have lost a daughter and had their son seriously injured in such a short period of time. Heres one of the many notes we have received on the subject, one is near to the heart of who lost his mom at a very young age to a highway crash on the TransCanada. Hi Charles, It- usually- is all about the driver/ driver attitude/driver experience. Usually- never about the road. The traffic act is so black and white on this- you must drive to conditions, you must be able to bring your vehicle under control. Couple of years ago working in Alberta I needed to drive Death Highway Hwy 63 to Fort Mac. Prior to driving it I scared myself reading online accounts/ opinions/ emotional stories of sadness and anger. I was reluctant to drive on it/ be on it. Once on it I wondered what the issue was. At that time it was part twinned with twinning construction in progress. Twinned part had wide lanes, wide shoulders, ample and spacious rest stops. Non- twinned part was ok too with similar wide lanes, wide shoulders, and rest stops. The highway was not killing people- my conclusion/ my opinion. In 1974 my mom died in a horrific crash. At that time the TransCanada Hwy was single lane with narrow graveled shoulders. A semi was stalled in the eastbound lane and cloaked in the darkness of an overcast fall September evening near MacGregor. Returning to Wpg and traveling eastbound my dad did not see the stalled truck in time and we slammed in to the back of it. A second semi traveling eastbound did not see the scene in time and slammed in to our crumpled vehicle and sent it to the northside ditch. My mom was dead at the scene. My dad was critically injured. I was unhurt physically. I was able to get out of the crumpled car before the second semi impacted. It was a left hook in life. At 13yrs old, mom was the center of my universe. Not only for me though but for others as well, my brothers and sisters and friends and relatives. 2years later I by chance found in our house a text document of a court case where my dad tried to sue the truck company for negligence( I guess) as the operator did not pull his truck off of the traveled portion of the eastbound lane, did not have functioning emergency flares on board, did not have good flashlights, and abandoned efforts to bring traffic under control to return to troubleshooting the cause of his truck stalling out. It was a bitter pill to swallow reading that at conclusion of the court case no fault was assigned. Yes- a terribly tragic event the court concluded. Yes- the truck driver should have pulled his vehicle off of the road, he should have had functioning flares, he should have continued trying to bring traffic to a stop. And-yes- my dad should have been able to operate/ control his vehicle as to avoid collisions. Yes- a bitter pill to swallow indeed. Would a better/ twinned TransCanada Hwy in 1974 prevented this tragedy? Perhaps yes-perhaps no. Will a better/twinned Hwy 63 to Fort Mac clear it of its ugly nickname Death Highway? Perhaps yes-perhaps no. Will a better/ twinned Hwy 15 eliminate future tragedies? Perhaps yes- perhaps no. I have put on many kilometers driving- mostly work related but for pleasure too. I have been caught in all kinds of weather conditions. I have seen no shortage of stupid decisions made by drivers of all ages. Texting and driving! Do not simply blame/ mention the younger kids in regards to this epidemic. I have seen countless drivers my vintage(53yrs) and older doing the same- semi truck drivers too. I would have to conclude- that yes it is -in most instances- about the driver and not about the road. It is such a helpless feeling losing someone to a vehicular accident. I have learned no words to say that would lessen the hurt. What ifs go on for a long time. Awful day is followed by awful day for a long time. My mom died far too young at age 43 years. A left hook in life followed by a right hook. My heart breaks for this family who lost their young daughter in this recent tragedy while attending to their critically injured son overseas. My heart breaks for this family who lost a young mom. They are in my thoughts. Thanks for letting me share. Kind Regards, Bruce
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:54:27 +0000
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