Motorists consider safety while visiting memorial near intersection of deadly Manitoba bus crash - Action News
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Manitoba

Motorists consider safety while visiting memorial near intersection of deadly Manitoba bus crash

Some drivers are calling for fellow motorists to follow the rules of the road and for greater traffic safety measures following a deadly highway collision near Carberry, Man., Thursday.

Marilyn Wiebe revisited intersection to pay respects, remember what it looks like apart from deadly crash

A white woman, with long white hair, is wearing sunglasses and a mutli-coloured shirt. She is standing near green fields, on the side of a dirt road.
Marilyn Wiebe is among the Manitobans seeking answers about what happened at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway, just north of Carberry, Man., on Thursday. A collision there killed 15 people and sent 10 more people to hospital. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Marilyn Wiebe laid flowers Sunday at a growing memorialnear the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway, just north of Carberry, Man.

On Thursday, Wiebe was driving her regular route to Russell, Man. As she approached the intersection, she noticed traffic was being rerouted, she said, signalling to her that something had happened.

"I was devastated when I saw what I thought was carnage at the intersection," Wiebe told CBC News on Sunday.

"I kept thinking, 'There were two lanes. There were two lanes. What happened? Why did this have to happen?'"

On Thursday, a transport truck travelling east on the Trans-Canada Highway collided witha southbound minibus that was trying to cross the intersection, Manitoba RCMP said.

The bus was carrying a group of seniors from Dauphin, Man., to the Sand Hills Casino near Carberry, about 150 kilometres south. The collision killed 15 people and sent 10 others to hospital.

Places of worship in Dauphin, a city of roughly 8,000 people in western Manitoba, dedicated parts of their weekly Sunday services to praying and mourning for the crash victims, as well as for the community.

RCMP have previously said the semi had the right-of-way at the time, but the investigation into possible causes of the crash is ongoing.

In the meantime, Wiebe is encouraging everyone on the roads to slow down and drive defensively.

"I think every intersection along the Trans-Canada is dangerous," Wiebe said. "People have to start slowing down. We can't depend on other people to follow the rules."

Veteran trucker visits site

Derek Kodecki, a veteran trucker, stopped at the memorial Sunday on his way home to Calgary after dropping off a freight in Winnipeg.

A man with thinning is wearing a navy blue polo shirt. He is standing a few feet away from a small grouping of flowers that have been laid on the dirt, beside a highway intersection. A stop sign and one way sign stand at the corner of the intersection.
Derek Kodecki, a trucker with decades of experience, suggests a slower speed limit is required near the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

He estimates that he has driven past the intersection where the crash occurred up to 30 times over the past 40 years, for both business and pleasure, he said.

"It's definitely a wake-up call," said Kodecki, who has had close calls on the highways himself.

The intersection contains stop and yield signs. So in theory, there shouldn't be any accidents, Kodecki said, but humans make mistakes.

He noted that the speed limit on the Trans-Canada drops from 110 km/h to 100 km/h within a couple of kilometres of the intersection, but he said that isn't enough.

He suggested adopting something similar to the highway near Moose Jaw, Sask., which forces drivers to slow down to 80 km/h and has photo enforcement installed to deter speeding.

"It's about time that's instituted here," Kodecki said.

History of crashes

A total of 29 crashes occurred at the intersection of the Trans-Canada and Highway 5 from 2012 to 2021, the latest year where exact data is available, a provincial government spokesperson previously told CBC News.

Twelve of those collisions resulted in an injury being reported. One involved a fatality, the spokesperson said.

A pair of purple and orange flowers sit in grass, on the side of a highway intersection. A silver car is stopped behind the flowers, waiting for a black eighteen-wheeler breeze down the highway.
Nearly 30 collisions have occurred at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway from 2012 to 2021. But only one resulted in a fatality, according to a Manitoba government spokesperson. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Seven of the collisions involved animals, whereas 22 were vehicular crashes, they said.

"We haven't had any major incidents like we had on June 15. Nothing like that, ever," saidJas Verma, owner of the Robin's Nest Motel and Cafe, located near the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada.

Vermamoved tothe area less than a year ago, he said. But in that time, he has noticed the intersection sees a lot of traffic every day.

Some locals, he said, have raised the issue of installing traffic lights at the intersection, or orange signs further down the road warning motorists of an upcoming intersection.

"If they can do that, then I think they'd be a lot better off here," Verma said.

A woman wearing a colourful shirt, dark slacks and sandles is bending over, her hands on her knees, scanning a small memorial with various flowers. The memorial is set up at an intersection next to a highway.
Marilyn Wiebe laid flowers at a growing memorial just north of Carberry, Man., where a minibus was struck by a transport truck last week. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Some people have left flowers at the intersectionnow that police have cleared the scene. One person hung a dreamcatcher from one of the flower stems.

Wiebe felt it was important to visit the intersection again, to remind herself of what it's usually like and she encourages others who drive past it often to do the same.

"There are people who have to drive that road enter that intersection every day," Wiebe said.

Motorists consider safety while visiting memorial of deadly Manitoba bus crash

1 year ago
Duration 2:16
As families and the wider community grieve Thursday's horrific crash, the difficult work to accurately identify the remains of the 15 people killed is also underway. There have been no new deaths, but the long, hard work of figuring out exactly what happened is just getting started.

With files from Gavin Axelrod