Charges laid
O’Leary man charged with dangerous driving causing death
Prince County RCMP announced Friday morning that they have laid charges in relation to a fatal motor vehicle crash in Central Bedeque in 2015. The collision between the two vehicles happened on Oct. 9 and killed 67-year-old Dorothy May Mayhew, from the Kinkora area. Police now say they’ve charged the driver of the second vehicle, 25-year-old Gregory Stuart Collicutt of O’Leary, with dangerous driving causing death. He’s scheduled to appear in court on April 28. The crash happened near the intersection of the Searletown Road and Route 1A.
RCMP Sgt. Darrell Gill said Friday that the investigation leading to the charge has been ongoing for the past six months.
“It’s been quite a bit of work. Of course in terms of an investigation like this it can be time consuming for sure.
“There’s traffic analysts, information that needs to be obtained, and follow up on the investigation … that information has to be gathered,” said Gill. He added that the investigation is still ongoing while the court process unfolds, so there is a possibility of more charges being laid against Collicutt, though he wouldn’t speculate whether they were likely. Mayhew’s death was one of the contributing factors that led to the provincial government announcing recently that it is going to do some work to the highway through Central Bedeque. The project, which has an estimated price tag of $1.4 million, is expected to go to tender in April and be completed by the fall.
The province intends to install a left turning lane onto Dunk River Road from the highway.
Additional streetlights and electric traffic speed indicators are also going to be installed at that intersection. The eastbound passing lane through the area is also being removed in an effort to slow traffic. The Searletown Road intersection is being realigned from its current Y format to a T intersection with dedicated turning lanes off the highway.