REGINA – The tears have been shed before.
Much like the debris left behind by a deadly highway collision, the damage of losing a loved one can’t be undone.
“It’s too late for my brother,” said Lindsay Antosh, whose brother Lane died in a crash at an intersection of Highway #1 near Pilot Butte in August 2013.
“We’d just hate for this to happen to any other family,” she said.
Parents and classmates at Greenall High School in Balgonie are calling for change on what they call the most dangerous stretch of highway in Saskatchewan.
“It’s devastating,” said Desiré Turner, a grade 12 student at Greenall. “All the lives that have been lost throughout the years … something that could have been prevented.”
According to Saskatchewan Government Insurance, there were 477 collisions between Regina and Balgonie from 2008 to 2012. Over 180 people injured and eight of them were killed.
Major intersections east of Regina are to be upgraded when a bypass around the city is complete – though that may not happen for another four to five years.
The government is considering photo radar along that stretch, but highways minister Don McMorris believes traffic lights would not be a good fit – given the rural setting.
“You can imagine if someone blows a red light at highway speeds, because people are expecting every vehicle to stop, what the results will be,” McMorris said.
While statistics may not tell the whole story, there is one behind each and every person who rallied at the legislature on Tuesday.
They believe a safer highway can’t wait for more lives to be lost.
“I’m just here to put a face to the name, trying to do what we can to help our pain from losing Lane,” Antosh said.
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