His dad died in a crash on Veterans Memorial Highway on Father's Day. Now he's fighting for change

Aaron Norris says his parents always told him to avoid Veterans Memorial Highway.

Also known as Route 75, it'sa two-lane, 38.5-kilometre freeway connecting communities in Conception Bay North with the Trans-Canada Highway.

About 10,000 vehicles use parts of the road daily, according to the Newfoundland and LabradorDepartment of Transportation and Infrastructure. Over the years, Veterans Memorial Highway has garnered a deadly reputation because of a series of fatal crashes.

"I knew that it was a dangerous highway. I knew that it was notorious for accidents," Norris said.

Still,Norris said his dad, Andrew, sometimes took the highway when travelling to the family summer home in Carbonear.

On Father'sDay last year, June 18,Norris was getting ready for work when he got a call from his grandparents his dad and younger brother had been in a crash on Veterans Memorial Highway.

A vehicle travelling in the opposite direction drifted into their lane, colliding head-on with their minivan.

Andrew succumbed to his injuries in the ambulance before reaching the hospital.

Norris said he remembers the events of that day clearly and it feels like a nightmare.

"It's almost like a grenade went off," he said.

His brother, 12, suffered a broken femur but has since recovered. Norris said it's thanks to his father that things didn't turn out even worse.

"He did the best he could. He did steer the vehicle in such a way that it saved my brother's life, but unfortunately it cost him his own," he said.

According to the RCMP, the driver of the other vehicle a 29-year-old man died at the scene.

'Life or death'

About six years ago, after years of complaints, the provincial government added climbing lanesat four locations and new ramps at an interchange near Carbonear. But Norris believes the most effective way to prevent crashes like his father's would be to divide the highway.

"When a vehicle appears in front of you, you got a split second, and at that point it's life or death. Unfortunately for him, it was death," he said.

WATCH | Aaron Norris's dad died in a crash on the very highway he was warned to avoid:

His dad told him not to drive on Veterans Memorial Highway and then died in a head-on crash

5 months ago

Duration 0:24

Aaron Norris says his parents warned him about Veterans Memorial Highway, which connects Conception Bay North with the Trans-Canada Highway. The lack of a median, speeding drivers and poor visibility in foggy conditions were some of those reasons. Norris, whose dad was killed in a 2023 crash, is fighting for changes to the highway.

In the months following the crash, Norris began looking into the highway and its notorious reputation.

He started lobbying officials at all levels of government, including Carbonear Mayor Frank Butt, who calledthe highway "notorious."

"It just doesn't stop," Butt said.

Butt says the town has met with the RCMP and local MHAs to work on making the road safer. Hesaid it's difficult to gauge how much the safetychanges improved the road, and it's unclear what's causing the crashes.

"It's an evolving thing. You think you have it solved and then all of a sudden, another tragedy happens," he said.

Butt said he plans to ask Carbonear town council to lobby the provincial government to twin the highway or consider other safety improvements, like rumble strips used to alert drivers of potential danger by causing a vehicle tovibrate as it drives over them.

He also wants the provincial government to move forward with a planned, but never built, overpass near Harbour Grace.

12 deaths since 2018

CBC News requested an interview with Transportation and Infrastructure Minister John Abbott. Instead, department spokesperson Maria Browne sent a statement.

"We are always looking at ways to improve our province's roads and highways," reads the statement.

According to the department, there were 417 collisions on the highway between January 2012 and December 2022.

In an interview last week, RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland said12 people have died in 11 collisions on the highway since 2018. Five of those crashes were head-on, two-vehicle collisions, while six were single-vehicle crashes.

Garland said the RCMP would welcome any safety improvements, but in her view, the road itself isn't the problem it's the drivers.

"It has motorists that travel at excessively high speeds. It also has motorists that travel at extremely slow or lower speeds. Both of those types of drivers put themselves and others at risk," she said.

She said aggressive driving, impairment and not using a seatbelt are common contributing factors in the fatal crashes on the highway.

'A big void'

Norris said his dad, a St. John's grocery store manager, was heavily involved in community organizations. He coached his younger son's basketball team.

Still, Norris said he was surprised by the outpouring of support following his father's death.

"He didn't really crave recognition for anything. He just did stuff out of the goodness of his heart," hesaid. "He touched the lives of so many people."

Norris said he misses talking to his father the most.

"He was one of my best friends. I talked to him every night when I got home. [Not] having that person to talk to anymore in your life it's like a big void that really just can't be filled," he said.

Norris saidhe worries about more people dying on the highway. Less than a week after he spoke with CBC News, that fear came true.

One man was killed and another injured in a fiery, head-on collision on Veterans Memorial Highway on March 19.

According to the RCMP, first responders had to use snow to extinguish the blaze.

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