It’s been just over a week since a devastating collision along Highway 107 near Lake Echo, N.S. claimed the life of Renee Decker, a young mother and daycare operator.
“It’s tragic really,” said Allison Besnard. “She was just a young mom.”
“She was only 30, she had a 5-year-old son at home, she worked really hard for her family. She lived with her dad and her fiance, she just worked really hard for them. To hear she was killed in an accident is just horrible.”
The collision also sent a family of four to hospital with serious injuries.
Jennifer Falle’s son Leland, and daughter Trinity were with driving with their father and stepmother when the crash occurred, heading to celebrate Trinity’s 6th birthday.
All four are now in the hospital recovering. Leland and Trinity both suffered bruised lungs, concussions, broken femurs and broken pelvises.
“They’re doing really well. They’re up trying to walk,” said Falle.
“They both got walkers and wheelchairs, both of which will follow them home but it’s gonna be a lot of physiotherapy, and psychiatric therapy and stuff like that to get them more comfortable to get them back into a vehicle.”
Since the collision, Falle and friends of Decker’s are calling for changes to the stretch of highway they were travelling on — they say the ramp at exit 18 is dangerous and too short to properly merge into traffic.
“You don’t have a chance to think. If you stop to think, it’s a hazard. You’re going to have an accident right then and there,” Besnard said.
“When you go onto the exit, there’s a small window where you can see the highway below to look for traffic but then there’s a ton of trees and brush in the way and you see nothing until you’re down to a very short merge section and you’ve got to react to whatever is there.”
Since 2009, RCMP say there have been eight fatal and two serious collisions along Highway 107.
The Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal says the highway is included in the province’s twinning feasibility study — and that they will be consulting with the public in the near future.
READ MORE: Feasibility study released, still no commitment by government to twin N.S. highways
For the loved ones affected by the most recent accident, they say they want to see change now, before it’s too late for someone else.
“They need to do something now before it gets any more later and more deaths have happened on this highway because of accidents,” said Falle.
An online fundraiser in honour of Renee Decker is currently taking place to help her family during this difficult time.
A GoFundMe Page has also been created to help Jennifer Falle’s children with their medical care.
The exact cause of the fatal collision is still under investigation by police at this time.
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