LETHBRIDGE- It’s a haunting moment in time Trudi Mason says she can never forget. Last May, she was riding her bike along Highway 3 when her riding partner and good friend Sherry Handsaeme was struck by a car and killed. It’s left Mason suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and flashbacks.
“She was far from done with her life, and we weren’t done with our friendship, and now she is gone and there is a huge hole in my heart, in my mind and in my family,” Mason read in a Lethbridge courtroom. Her message was directed at the woman who struck and killed her best friend.
“Often I see images of emergency vehicles and a yellow tarp. Although this is probably the most benign of the images I regularly see, it is the most disturbing,” wrote Mason in her victim impact statement.
“I will never forget what was under that tarp.”
During sentencing, prosecution read a quote from the driver: “something beeped in my car and I looked down.”
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There wasn’t enough evidence to show the driver had been using her phone when she hit Handsaeme, meaning she was not charged with distracted driving. The driver pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving and has been fined $2,000 dollars.
Mason said she has been left paying a much higher price.
“It has definitely changed my life, and I will probably never be the same.”
The pair had been training for a race in San Francisco, cycling down Highway 3 near Monarch when Handsaeme was hit by the car. Now, a ghost bike memorial sits along the highway as a tribute to the life that was lost, and as a symbol to drivers, that just a second of distraction can be deadly.
“For me, part of healing is going to be getting out there and bringing recognition that – this is important, we have to work at this, we have to change our mind sets on this so people don’t die senselessly,” added Mason. “Sherry was a wife, a mother, a grand mother, friend and training partner to so many of us.”
Drivers in Alberta just aren’t getting the message. Kevin Brandvold is the Regional Traffic Safety Consultant with the Alberta Office of Traffic Safety, he said the number of drivers not paying attention behind the wheel is alarming. “Distracted driving is the second most common charge that people are convicted of under the Traffic Safety Act and currently in 2014-2015, that was around 27,000 convictions within the province.”
Mason is now on a mission to educate others on the dangers of distracted driving, and the impact it can have on a persons life. She wants every driver to realize that just one distraction can take a life in an instant.
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