Teen's death renews calls for moose fences

The death of a Fredericton student in a car-moose collision is renewing pressure on the government to do more to keep moose off roads.

The 16-year-old girl was killed early Thursday morning while trying to overtake another vehicle on a remote highway outside Fredericton. At the request of the family, her name is not being released. She was a Grade 11 student at Leo Hayes High School on the city's north side.

The girl's car hit a moose on Route 10 between Fredericton and Minto. The accident happened near the Grubb Road.

• FROM JUNE 22, 2006: Teen girl dies in moose crash

Tow-truck driver Eric LaBurque often travels Highway 10, and was among the volunteer firefighters who responded to the accident. He often fields calls from frightened drivers who've struck a moose, and says they often feel lucky to be alive.

"You're always alert, and you're always watching but they just seem to drop out of the sky in front of you," he said. "And you don't have time to stop, and you don't have time to do anything."

The crash happened in a known moose danger zone, and a committee of MLAs is recommending that the government erect electric moose fences along stretches of highway where moose are known to travel.

Liberal MLA Donald Arsenault says the province must act quickly to reduce the number of deaths on provincial highways.

"It's a wake up call. This is a very, very serious issue. And the Minister of Transportation again said yesterday (Wednesday) that he feels the moose traffic has increased and it wil increase because of the mild winters we're having. Therefore, we have to stand up and do something about it."

So far this year, there have been nearly 100 accidents involving moose and vehicles on New Brunswick highways. Crashes involving vehicles and moose have increased steadily across New Brunswick since 2002 despite a safety campaign launched by the provincial government warning drivers to slow down.

• FROM JUNE 8, 2006: Warnings do little to slow moose accidents

There are approximately 300 moose-vehicle accidents in New Brunswick every year, many of them fatal, and most of them occurring between May and September.

Five years ago, the province installed an electronic fence along a stretch of Route 11 near Dalhousie at a cost of $16,000 per kilometre for installation and $12,000 per year for maintenance. Since then, only one collision between a vehicle and moose was reported in that zone compared to four moose collisions and two with deer in a nearby areas.

Transportation Minister Paul Robichaud says electric fences are a possiblity but hasn't committed to the idea.

Laburque doesn't care about the politics or the price tag, he just wants to stop the carnage on the roads. "Anything at all to stop the moose from coming out on the road. Because there' a lot of people that have been killed, and lot of people hurt and there's really no need of it."