Quebec teenager nailed for speeding 90 km/hr in a school zone and assaulting police officer freed on bail

QUEBEC - A young man caught driving 50 kilometres over the speed limit in a Saint-Tite school zone, who refused arrest and assaulted a police officer, appeared in court for a bail hearing today, the same day he turned 18.

Police arrested the teen, who only possessed a learner's permit, after he was observed speeding yesterday through a school zone. At first, the teen refused to stop for police and led police on a short chase before pulling over after he had damaged the Chevrolet Cavalier he'd been driving.

When the officer confronted the teen and opened the driver's door of the Cavalier, the teen put the car in reverse and hit the accelerator.

It's suspected the teen was high and impaired at the time of the arrest. He was charged with 11 offences ranging from injuring a police officer to possession of marijuana.

The officer received minor injuries.

A judge released the teen on bail and imposed a curfew. He also stripped the teen of his learner's permit and set a court date of March 12th.

Well. That'll learn him.

Laval police release sketches of men wanted in January road rage incident

QUEBEC -- Laval police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying two men accused of stabbing a driver in the chest after a minor fender bender.

On January 11th, 2009, around 1:45am, two vehicles traveling on Cure-Labelle came into contact with each other.

The two occupants in the car that was struck were not happy about the incident and one of the suspects stabbed the driver in the chest after a confrontation.

The two men then fled the scene and were last seen on Samson Boulevard.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 450.662.4636

Laval woman, 74, killed by husband after he runs over her in a "simple accident"

From the Montreal Gazette

QUEBEC -- A 74-year-old Laval woman was declared dead shortly after noon in the driveway of a bungalow on Renaud St. W. in Pont Viau-Duvernay area of Laval, north of Montreal, after her husband accidentally ran over her, Constable Frank Di Genova of Laval police said Thursday.

The victim was struck by the rear of a Chrysler minivan.

Her husband had been at the wheel, backing up, Di Genova added. The woman sustained severe internal injuries, and intense medical efforts failed to prevent her death.

“We have every indication that this was a simple accident,” Di Genova said.

The husband, also age 74, was taken to hospital and was being treated for nervous shock.

Next of kin are being notified. Di Genova declined to release any names. The couple is believed to have lived in the home for about three decades, raising two sons and a daughter.

Car plunges off overpass from Highway 15

Photos by Viktor Pivovarov

NEW BRUNSWICK - An 83 year old man escaped with minor injuries afer he drove his car off an overpass last night landing in a snowy ditch.

Police and emergency crews attended to the man as he sat trapped in the car when it landed upside down. He was taken to hospital to be checked out.

The 6:30 pm incident happened from the ramp between Paul and Lewisville Streets.

Police are still investigating the circumstances that led to the crash.

Single car rollover sends seven teens to hospital

NOVA SCOTIA - Seven teens are incredibly lucky to have received only minor injuries after the car they were riding in flipped over and slid off the road Wednesday afternoon.

The crash happened in Colchester County. The local fire chief said when he arrived at the scene on Carrobie Road all of the occupants were safely out of the vehicle but shaken up.

Driving conditions were poor at the time with snow falling and slippery conditions, which once again, should remind motorists to slow down in poor weather and drive to the conditions.

There's no word on charges.

See Education for the driving [m]asses: Tip 122 - How *not* to crash this winter for helpful driving tips.

When you don't slow down on icy roads - this happens:

In one of many Winnipeg-area auto mishaps reported on slippery roads Thursday morning, this vehicle rolled off a service road near Portage Avenue in Headingley. No injuries were reported.
(WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

MANITOBA -- "Lay off the gas!" That's the message RCMP officers have for Manitoba motorists this morning after they have responded to several collisions on the Perimeter Highway.

Rising temperatures across the region are causing frost to form on highways. Combined with strong winds, roads can ice up without warning, creating treacherous driving conditions.

"You have to take it easy on days like this. You can be driving in an area where it’s not so bad and suddenly hit a patch where it’s quite slippery," said Neil Gobelle, co-ordinator of highway information for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press.

Gobelle said Manitobans will be in for more of the same until it gets mild enough to "dry everything up."

"I don’t think that’s going to happen for awhile with all the melting we’ve got to do," he said.

Hearing under way into hit-and-run death that killed 15 year old Ashleigh Maegan Carmichael

A memorial marks the spot were 15 year old Ashleigh Carmichael was killed by a man who struck her with a car in an alleged attempt to end her life after a disagreement.
- Facebook photo

From the Hamilton Spectator

ONTARIO -- A Hamilton judge must decide if there is sufficient evidence to try for murder a man accused of deliberately running down a 15-year-old girl and then speeding away.

Ontario Court Justice Richard Jennis presided at the second day of a preliminary hearing yesterday for Tom Quintin Shade, 26, who is charged with second-degree murder. Ashleigh Maegan Carmichael died in hospital following the hit-and-run.

See In Memory Of Maegan Carmichael on Facebook

The victim was with a group of young people near Cheever Street in east Hamilton when she was allegedly struck twice by the same car. Her death was reportedly sparked by an old feud that flared up between the victim and her brother and another young woman and her boyfriend.

Witnesses told The Spectator at the time of the April 7, 2008, incident the car sped out of an alley and came straight at the victim and her friends. Carmichael was allegedly struck while the car was driving in reverse and then run over again after it changed gears and moved forward.

Driver "somehow" misses intersection, knocks over traffic light striking school bus. One injured.

Hamilton Spectator Photo

ONTARIO -- A child was injured this morning when a traffic light was knocked over onto a school bus in Hamilton.

Police say a car turning north onto Upper Wentworth from Stonechurch somehow missed the intersection (?!) and slammed into a traffic light standard. The force of the crash caused the pole to topple onto the bus.

The 9am collision happened as the children were being transported to classes at a French-language school. A girl and the driver of the car were both taken to hospital.

It's reported the girl is suffering from a broken arm. There's no word on the driver's condition.

No one just misses an intersection for no reason. Sorry.

Calgary man dies while trying to stop out-of-control pickup truck

ALBERTA -- A man in his 50s was killed when he was pinned between two vehicles in southeast Calgary yesterday morning.

Police said the man got out of a pickup truck with the motor running when it began to roll out of a yard, with the driver not fully in the driver's seat. The truck continued into an alley in the 1400 block of Lake Michigan Crescent S.E.

The man managed to get himself behind the truck in an attempt to stop it from reversing further when it's alleged he lost his footing on an icy incline and was pinned by his truck when it hit a parked white car.

The man died at the scene.

"He had been pinned between the two vehicles for an undetermined amount of time," said Stuart Brideaux, spokesman for Calgary Emergency Medical Services in a release.

The Calgary police traffic section is investigating the circumstances surrounding the sad and tragic case.

Man dies after losing control in slippery, poor conditions after logging truck temporarily blinded driver

MANITOBA -- A 51 year old man from Bloodvein is dead after a two-vehicle collision Monday night [02 FEB 09].

What's even more tragic about this story is the airbags in the SUV driven by the victim failed to deploy (See story from Winnipeg Free Press below).

The collision involved two SUVs and took place in Bifrost, 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg. According to the RCMP, Antoine (Tony) Green was driving north on Road 234 when his SUV collided with a southbound SUV near Beaver Creek.

Both drivers were rushed to hospital in Arborg and the 51 year old died six hours later. The other driver was treated and released.

Alcohol is not considered a factor in the crash and at the time, it was believed that a slippery road had contributed to the fatality.

[05 FEB 09]
From the Winnipeg Free Press

Tony Green will be missed.

Antoine Green, 51, was killed in a head-on collision Monday as he was driving home to Bloodvein First Nation across a wilderness road with his wife and two grandchildren.

A wake is being held Thursday in Winnipeg. His body is being returned home to Bloodvein Friday and a funeral is planned for Monday, said Green’s cousin, Yvonne Young from the First Nation 210 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The Ojibway community can only be reached by land in winter over an ice road.

“Everyone knew him as Tony. He was friendly and cheerful and he had seven children and many grandchildren,” Young said.

Everyone knew Green because he was the community’s garbage truck driver and he never missed a pickup, Young said from the home of her brother, Bloodvein Chief Frank Young.

The Greens and the Youngs are first cousins, Young said.

Green was on an errand to pay his Autopac premiums on the family’s two vehicles in the nearest town, Riverton, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It’s a vital service centre for half a dozen remote fly-in First Nations on the eastern shore.

Authorities released a statement Wednesday on the fatality, saying one man had died and another was injured in a two-vehicle collision in the Rural Municipality of Bifrost on Monday.

Gimli RCMP said Green was driving a GMC Jimmy with three passengers northbound on Provincial Road 234 about five kilometres north of Beaver Creek. The sport utility vehicle collided with a southbound Chevrolet Uplander following a logging truck at about 5 p.m.

Young said the airbags in Green’s GMC failed and he suffered life-threatening chest and head injuries.

His wife, Rosalie, had minor injuries to one arm. The two other passengers, the couple’s grandchildren, aged 9 and 11, were not physically hurt. Family members say the kids are traumatized by their grandfather’s death.

Within minutes, other motorists stopped at the scene of the (accident). There’s no cell service from the location, though, making emergency service almost impossible to get in a hurry, Young said.

RCMP said Green was rushed to Arborg Hospital in critical condition before being transferred to Health Sciences Centre. He died six hours later.

The driver of the Uplander, a 47-year-old man from Ontario, was treated and released from Gimli Hospital.

Young said Green will be missed, especially at the First Nation’s school, where 200 children are enrolled from nursery school to Grade 9. Green dropped by every morning on his pickup rounds, often staying for a cup of coffee with staff or visiting his nine grandchildren at recess.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said road conditions at the time were poor.

“Because of the blowing snow, they were down to one lane there,” Karpish said.

“When (the vehicles collided), there was a lot of snow dust being kicked up by the logging truck so they didn’t see each other.”

Karpish said at this point of the investigation it appears no charges will be laid.

EDITORIAL - Recent crashes and fatalities on Highway 17 must force the Canadian government into action

by Cindy Smith

Last night's fatal crash in Arnprior is the third incident on this stretch of Highway 17 this year and the second fatality.

See Highway 17 closed after serious crash
See Head-on collision kills 20-year-old Nicholas Carter-Leedham on Hwy. 17 near Pembroke
See Woman killed in Highway 17 crash near Hawkesbury identified

Highway 17, which starts where Ottawa's Highway 417 ends - a four lane highway that merges into two lanes traveling in opposite directions, stretches from Arnprior to Kenora and right into Manitoba. It is Ontario's longest provincial highway spanning 1,960 kilometres, and one of Ontario's most deadly.

In bad weather, Canadians who live along its route near the Arnprior (Ottawa) area are quick to point out that Highway 17 can be a terrible road to travel and with no concrete barrier separating traffic along some stretches, head-on collisions are all too common on this highway as drivers, for whatever reason, drift out of their lanes and cross into the path of oncoming vehicles.

Highway 17 is part of the Trans Canada Highway - Canada's largest and massive transport network connecting highways from Newfoundland to British Columbia. It winds through large cities and small towns and is an artery of activity that seems to come with a price as thousands of Canadians have died on this network since its inception in 1933. It has its own website inviting Canadians to use the network to plan vacations and trips.

As beautiful as the network is, it falls short in its safety. The Canadian government and municipalities where stretches of the highway snake through have been petitioned by numerous families to spend the money to upgrade the highway's infrastructure and make it safer, starting by twinning. This is done by digging a deep center median between a two lane highway, widening it to four and separating it with trees and grass (see photo above). In some areas where this can't be done, families of loved ones killed on two lane portions where traffic is separated by a white or yellow dividing line, have asked for concrete barriers or steel guardrails to be installed to separate traffic.

These are not unfair requests. We pay enough in taxes that more money needs to be earmarked for road safety.

The government made good on its promises in the late 1980s and early 2000s and twinned stretches of the highway around Sault St. Marie, Echo Bay and Desbarats. In July 2008, the federal and provincial governments announced a $6.2 billion infrastructure program to twin the the highway near Kenora and Thunder Bay a priority. But what about those living in Renfrew and Sudbury County?

In a perfect world, every driver would stay in his or her lane, but this is not a perfect world. We are more distracted as drivers consumed by our materialistic conveniences of iPods, cellphones, cup holders, in-dash DVD players, GPS units and eating on the go. We drive faster. We're more stressed. Many of these driver conveniences provide deadly distractions as we take our eyes off the road briefly to open a food wrapper, change a song, dial a number or put a straw in a cup. So much can go wrong in a split second that if a driver drifts to the center of the road and collides with a barrier instead of a motor vehicle, granted there's still potential for a crash, but will it be as deadly as a head-on collision?

Even if it's a steel guardrail on posts, a center dividing barrier is still an important safety measure, specifically if a strong gust of wind pulls a car out of a person's control. It's 100 km/hr along most of these stretches with people driving faster than the speed limit. That's a lot of force and velocity in a head on crash. The result is almost always fatal.

If there's one way to drive the point home, as I know that there's a group of grieving families in BC fighting for a twinning solution on a Cassidy highway, put it into perspective for your local politicians and transport officials this way: The national average in Canada is 8 people die each day in car crashes and hundreds more are injured. Of those fatalities, three are often head on type crashes.

If we had an aviation system in Canada where we had eight planes crashing a day and three of those were due to mid-air collisions with oncoming planes, don't you think the public outcry would be massive? Don't you think the levels of government in this country would shut it all down and make immediate changes?

I do.

Woman, 24, killed in crash on Highway 17

A tractor trailer sits in the ditch after a fatal collision killed a female driver on Highway 17 near Arnprior.
Credit: Arnprior Chronicle-Guide, Photographer: Erin Fitzgerald

EDITORIAL - Recent crashes and fatalities on Highway 17 must force the Canadian government into action

ONTARIO - The Canadian Press is reporting a woman was killed last night after her car collided head-on with a tractor trailer loaded with particle board.

The crash happened just before 11:30pm in Arnprior.

The Renfrew detachment of the OPP say the woman was driving a 2004 Chevrolet Cobalt westbound on Highway 17 when she entered the eastbound lanes of traffic and struck a 2008 Peterbuilt transport carrying two trailers.

OPP said the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. At the request of her family, her name will not be released.

The driver of the transport, Richard Nierni, 41, of Haileybury, suffered minor injuries after his transport jack-knifed and came to rest on its side in a ditch. The highway between Campbell Drive and Scheel Drive has been closed since last night and is not expected to be re-open until sometime this afternoon.

A post mortem examination will be conducted on the driver.

No charges are expected.