Acadian Peninsula women call for moose fencing, cutting trees

Last September, Marie-May Rail's sister, Hlne David, died in a vehicle collision on Route 11 near Saint-Louis-de-Kent.

Her truck was hit by a vantrying to avoid a moose on the road. Two people in the van also died.

Since then, Rail has made it her mission to make the New Brunswick highway safer.

"I was mad. I was mad to see things like that happen," Rail said from her home in Pigeon Hill.

"We can't see the moose coming out [on the road]. It's very dangerous for us."

For months, Rail and another woman from the Acadian Peninsula, Lisa Chiasson, have travelled around the region, collecting more than 11,000 signatures for a petition. It calls on the government to installmore moose fencing and cutback overgrown trees along Route 11 so there's better visibility.

Meeting with minister

On Wednesday, the two women met with Roger Melanson, the minister of transportation and infrastructure.

Melansontold CBC Newsthere will be more brush cutting along highways.

"As was committed in the platform, we will have a brush cutting program in place to make our highways safer," Melansonsaid.

Rail says the outcome of the meeting was positive, but she's disappointed the government won't be putting up moose fencing.

"I can't understand that they can't do that in one year," Rail said.

Rail's sister was also travelling with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren at the time of the crash.

Rail said she's thankful her sister's children and grandchildren survived and she's focused on taking care of them.

In 2012, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said it hadinstalled moose fencing in the most high-risk areas on New Brunswick highways.

Fencing was installed along Highway 7 between Saint John and Fredericton in 2008.