‘I don’t think anyone was surprised’: Lower Sackville residents voice concern over fatal crash

As soon as Lower Sackville resident, Sharon Shaw heard a flurry of police vehicles outside of her quiet residential home, she knew something had gone horribly wrong.

Just across the street from her home, emergency crews were responding to a deadly collision that occurred when a vehicle struck a parked cube van.

Two men were pronounced dead at the scene, another transported to hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the vehicle is now facing charges.

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“Three charges were laid,” Cpl. Dal Hutchinson said, the media relations officer with Halifax District RCMP said. “Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, two counts and one charge involving dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.”

Several residents of the Hillside Avenue area, say excessive speeding is an ongoing issue because many drivers use the route as a “shortcut.”

“Daily, nightly, especially nightly they come by really fast,” Nina Barrios, another concerned resident said.

“They’re using it to avoid the main Sackville Drive. During the day they use it as a cut through, to avoid the traffic. There’s kids often playing, right where the accident happened,”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They're using it to avoid the main Sackville Drive. During the day they use it as a cut through, to avoid the traffic. There's kids often playing, right where the accident happened,"

Barrios said she’s tried to bring her concerns to police and government, with little success.

“At one point we did have the RCMP come and put an actual traffic counter down, the problem is they did it between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., so they didn’t really get an accurate count of when the traffic does cut through there,” she said.

Area councillor and deputy mayor, Steve Craig said there haven’t been many complaints for the Hillside Avenue brought to his attention.

“What we have in the last few years and I checked, just a couple of incidents where people have reported concerns about speeding, as well as parking along Hillside Avenue,” he said.

Traffic regulations are implemented by the municipality and police said any driving concerns should be brought to their attention, with a description of the vehicle involved if possible.

“If you do have a concern about speeding vehicles in your neighbourhood, we ask that you contact police through the non-emergency police line,” Cpl. Hutchinson said.

The non-emergency line for Halifax police is 902-490-5020.