Police in New Brunswick say they’re alarmed by the number of deaths and injuries caused by car accidents reported this month alone.
Three people have been killed and seven others were critically injured in seven separate crashes in the RCMP’s jurisdiction in New Brunswick since the beginning of June.
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RCMP Traffic Services Staff Sgt. Gilles Blinn says he’s frustrated because the deaths and injuries were all preventable.
“It’s always impaired driving, speed, no seatbelts, which are the common themes, and it’s happening over and over and over again. I mean at what point are we going to say enough is enough,” Blinn said.
Blinn has been working in law enforcement for nearly 30 years and says these tragedies hit close to home — his brother, Daniel Blinn died on December 23, 1988 because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when he was involved in a collision.
“It was terrible. It was just before Christmas — so for my family, we spent it in a funeral home at Christmas,” Blinn said.
Blinn says his brother’s death is in the forefront of his mind every time he sees a traffic-related death — especially one that could have been prevented.
The RCMP say excessive speed, impaired driving, not wearing a seatbelt or a combination of those factors contributed to the deaths and injuries in almost all of those incidents.
Blinn says he knows he’s not the only person who has had to deal with the loss of a loved one.
“You never forget, right. Time goes on and you know, time heals, but you never forget,” Blinn said.
Blinn says the RCMP usually see more crashes in summer, but it’s worrying that there have already been so many.
“I’d be the happiest guy on earth here if we could say, ‘we’re patrolling the streets, we’re stopping cars and we’re not seeing impaired driving and excessive speed,’ but I don’t think that’s going to happen, so we’re going to be in places where people will not expect to see the police — and I’m talking about the back roads, the dirt roads, the trails and so on,” Blinn said.
“Even on the lakes to try to stop this carnage that’s going on currently.”
He says it comes down to people using common sense — police can’t be everywhere and these serious collisions are happening too often.
“Some have ended up in the Neuro-ICU unit — they’re going to have life-long injuries which is terrible. Even more terrible is the fatalities and the police officers that have to get tell loved ones that their loved one,the family of the deceased person, that the person has died,” he said.
“That’s very traumatic for the people involved, as well as the police officers to do that.”
He says impaired driving is also a problem and people should enjoy the summer and have fun, but not at the cost of injuring themselves or other people.
MADD Greater-Fredericton area president Danielle Cole and her daughters were struck by a drunk driver three-and-a-half years ago. She says people are still not getting the message despite all the work MADD Canada is doing.
“I don’t know what else we can do to get the public to realize the effects of impaired driving. And sadly it seems to be it’s when somebody is directly affected, whether they lose somebody or they’re critical injured, that it’s a wake-up call,” Cole said.
The RCMP is asking people to provide police with a driver’s licence number and vehicle make if they see someone not using a seatbelt, driving drunk or speeding.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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