Death toll rises on N.L. highways
Crash on west coast brings number of highway fatalities in province to 12 in last 2 1⁄2 weeks
It’s been a deadly year on our province’s highways, with the number of fatalities soaring in the last month.
Within the last 2 ½ weeks, 12 people have been killed in vehicle collisions on the province’s roads.
“It’s very concerning,” RCMP Cpl. Oliver Whiffen, the province’s road collision reconstruction program manager, told The Telegram Wednesday.
“Any time there’s a single death, we’re concerned. We usually don’t get this many in this short a time.”
He made the comments just hours after three people were killed in a head-on collision involving two vehicles on the Trans-canada Highway (TCH) just west of Howley Junction.
Two days earlier, there was a fatal two-vehicle collision on the Veterans Memorial Highway, where three people — whose names have not yet been released — were killed.
Also on Monday, 17-year-old Justin Hynes died after being struck by a vehicle while walking to school in Cow Head.
On Sept. 7, 18-year-old Allison Smith was found dead in her car, which had gone over an embankment on a TCH near the Foxtrap Access Road, just east of the weigh scales.
There were four fatalities in an Aug. 27 crash in which two SUVS collided head on about four kilometres west of the exit to Bellevue. Three members of a family — Michael Ryan, 41, Paula Ryan, 35 and Michael Jr., 11, from Conception Bay South — and 18-year-old Sarah Stride of St. Lawrence were killed.
Whiffen said that since Aug. 1, there have been nine crashes on the province’s roads, which have resulted in 16 deaths.
One of them was a 25-yearold man, who died following a two-vehicle collision on the TCH west of Clarenville on Aug. 1. His car was travelling east at 11:30 p.m. when it crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a transport truck.
Whiffen wouldn’t comment as to the causes of the crashes, as most are still under investigation.
“They’re still trying to put it all together,” said Whiffen, who is stationed in Clarenville. “They’re all still very fresh.”
Safety NL president and CEO Len Leriche told The Telegram Wednesday the recent number of road deaths in the province is shocking.
“When we think about the numbers, it’s just overwhelming,” he said.
Leriche said that for the past 60 years his organization has been committed to reducing the number of injuries and fatalities on the province’s roadways through advocacy and training.
“But in times like these, you wonder if the message is getting out there,” he said.
“It’s so disheartening. We comment on this every day — what do we have to do (to help prevent such incidents in the future)?”
Leriche said drivers often take for granted the huge responsibility they have when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
“Driving seems to have become very robotic for some people,” he said. “They’re not thinking about the journey as much as they are the destination.
“They get in their car, fasten their seatbelt and just go off to where they’re going.”
He said every day in the province there are countless crashes and close calls, the result of people not using their turn signal, failing to stop at stop signs, using excessive speed and driving too closely to the vehicle in front.
“People have to realize that those are all rules implemented to keep people safe,” he said.
He pointed out that motorists must also drive for the conditions of the roads and cannot be distracted by things like cellphones.
“You go out and see 10 people driving, you can be sure three or four of them are texting or on their phones,” said Leriche, who added there needs to be more discussion about the issues on our roadways.
“People have to realize you’re behind the wheel of this heavy object and you can certainly do a lot of damage.”