Fatal crash prompts calls for divided highway

A deadly crash on the Trans-Canada Highway through Headingley, Man. over the weekend has Manitobans raising questions about safety on that stretch of highway.

Wayne and Serena Adair were travelling westbound along the Trans-Canada around 8:30 p.m. Friday when their SUV was hit by a sedan travelling eastbound that clipped a taxi, then crossed the median into oncoming traffic.

'I get shivers thinking of the couple of times that I've nearly met my own Waterloo there.' MLA David Faurschou

RCMP said the SUV burst into flames, leaving the couple trapped inside. Their nine-year-old daughter was pulled from the vehicle by witnesses and is recovering.

The driver of the sedan was also killed.RCMP have not released his name at the request of his family.The taxi's driver and occupants were not seriously hurt.

Police said speed and alcohol may havebeen factorsin the crash.

Others say the stretch of highway where the accident took place, three kilometres west of the Perimeter Highway, is a dangerous one.

"It's an accident waiting to happen," said Mike Mager, president of the Canadian Automobile Association's Manitoba chapter.

"You've got a huge, huge traffic flow coming out of the city it's a major artery out of the city you've got large trucks, you've got all kinds of businesses and you've got a single highway that has no division on it, there's no barricade, no median."

$5 million spent to upgrade intersections

Dave Faurschou, Conservative MLA for Portage la Prairie, agrees the highway should be divided.

"I get shivers thinking of the couple of times that I've nearly met my own Waterloo there, and it's no fault of your own. It is just extremely dangerous," said Faurschou, who travels the stretch of highway every day.

"I believe there needs to be some type of barrier between east and westbound traffic so that if a driver was perhaps distracted then there wouldn't be immediate cross-over without having some barrier as an impediment."

More service roads in the area would also help make the stretch of highway more safe, he said.

Wilf Taillieu, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Headingley, said head-on collisions happen in the area "quite often," and the municipality has been working with the province to obtain the funding for the project.

Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux said Monday there is a long-term plan for the area, but no changes will take place immediately.

"Even though we've put millions upon millions of dollars into that stretch and it has greatly improved over the last few years, there's a lot more to do," he said.

"We're certainly not perfect, that's for sure, but we certainly have a plan in place and we're wanting to take a clear, methodical approach as to how do we make our highways safer overall in the province of Manitoba."

Lemieux said the province has spent $5-million in the past few years to makeseveral intersections in the area safer.The province must work with the rural municipality and the federal government to make further changes, he added.