Taras Natyshak wants province to investigate 'pattern' of Highway 3 fatalities

Essex NDP MP Taras Natyshak today will ask for a provincial investigation into the safety of a stretch of Highway 3 in Essex County.

His request comes four days after a seven-vehicle collision killed a Brantford man on the two-lane portion of one of the county's busiest roads.

This is no longer a coincidence. This is a pattern- Taras Natyshak, Essex NDP MPP

The OPP say Michael Dostal was driving a three-wheeled motorcycle that veered into oncoming traffic Friday afternoon. It happened between County Road 18 and Upcott Sideroad in Kingsville.

It was the second fatal crash in month on the two-lane stretch of Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington.

Natyshak wants Ontario's transportation minister to do a thorough review of the crashes happening in the area.

"This is no longer a coincidence. This is a pattern. Everybody who knows this road and travels this road knows it. They know it's dangerous," Natyshak said. "We have seen way too many accidents and, of course, any fatality is absolutely unacceptable.

"They are happening on the stretch of road that is yet to be completed. These accidents are not happening west of here. They are happening where it's a single-lane highway."

The provincial Liberals announced plans to twin all of Highway 3 in Essex County a decade ago. The portion between Leamington and Essex remains two lanes.

Widening approved

The eventual widening has been approved and it passed an environmental assessment in 2006 that would allow lanes to be added between Essex and Leamington.

Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara, who is also the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, said it will take continued pressure on the government to force the widening of the road.

"We want to make sure our main artery that supports transportation within the county meets the 21st Century and I think that's important," he said. "The farming community also uses this road, as well, to get from field to field and, again, adds to that impatient driver who wants to pass when maybe they shouldn't."

A provincial document obtained by Radio-Canada shows the widening of Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington is not scheduled at all, but is on a future planning list. The province did not make clear what that means.

'It's a pain'

It's not only politicians who are frustrated. Drivers are, too.

"It's a pain, there's a lot of accidents, it's closed down a lot,"Gillian Dischiavo said. "I think that the new part, the double lanes, is way better because then people can go around each other."

"There's some times where some people that pass and they and they pass at a very last minute kind of thing, some people speed," Brittany Colenutt said.