Families of crash victims, reeve renew calls for improvements at Highway 1 intersection west of Portage
Review found large trucks would have trouble driving safely through roundabout, province says
Family members of two teenagers killed at a highway intersection just west of Portage la Prairie, Man., are disappointed the province has cancelled plans to build a roundabout, as is the area's reeve.
Carley Hunking, 19, and her boyfriend, Dorian Roulette, 17, were killed in August 2017 when the driver of a semi-trailer truck collided with the car the couple was travelling in at the intersection of highways 1 and 16.
"A semi ran a red light there, and we never got to see our daughter again," said Gypsy Hunking, Carley's mom, who lives with her husband and children north of Portage.
The intersection, which is the meeting point of two major east-west roads, is controlled with traffic lights but was the site of four separate fatal collisions from 2013-17 that left eight people dead, Manitoba Public Insurance said.
The Manitoba government under then premier Brian Pallister vowed in July 2020 to build a roundabout at the junction, but the province has since hit the brakes on the plan.
In an email, a provincial spokesperson said a review "found potential safety concerns" with the proposed roundabout design, including its "ability to safely accommodate long combination vehicles in conjunction with other types of vehicles."
The province announced last week that it's working to improve safety at the intersection of highways 1 and 5 near Carberry, Man., where 17 people were killed when a semi and a bus collided this past June.
The spokesperson said Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure will continue to review other options for safety improvements at highways 1 and 16, including the need for an interchange sometime in the future as part of Manitoba's National Trade Corridor Strategy.
It aims to improve safety and the movement of goods on the province's most critical corridors.
Hunking is disappointed in what she sees as a lack of action more than six years after her daughter and Roulette were killed.
5 deaths in 1 month
They were among five people killed in two separate collisions at the intersection in August 2017 alone.
Two boys, 10 and 13, and a 36-year-old man from Carberry were killed in a collision earlier that month.
"I would like that roundabout put in there, because it would cause people to slow down," Hunking said. "And maybe it would save people's lives."
Roulette's stepmother, Wendy Orr, agrees.
"It's unfortunate," Orr said. "It's like they brushed it under the rug."
She said changes to the design of the intersection are needed but also pointed out drivers need to be more careful.
Orr said during construction of an overpass leading into the community, trucks on the same highway had to pass through a roundabout closer to Portage la Prairie.
"Having a [permanent] roundabout would force vehicles to slow down," she said.
The provincial spokesperson said the issue with the roundabout lies mainly with semis pulling two or more trailers.
Conditions such as traffic volumes and patterns as well as the number and severity of collisions and near-miss analyses are considered as part of long-term planning, the spokesperson said.
Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said the province showed the association a draft design during consultations on the proposed roundabout.
The association's concerns included "the ability to maintain it," Dolyniuk said. "Our province has been challenged with being able to keep our highways free of snow and ice."
As well, "it required trucks to drive over the apron … of the roundabout," he said. "It didn't have enough room to accommodate all trucks that travel on that highway."
'Long overdue'
Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie Reeve Kam Blight said there's been a history of terrible collisions and fatalities at the intersection.
"It's something that's been long overdue," Blight said. "We need some improvements made to that intersection to improve the safety of all those individuals that are passing through."
There is signage warning drivers to prepare to stop, and the intersection is in an 80 km/h zone.
Interim safety measures put in by the province after the series of fatal collisions include left-turn signals for vehicles heading north or south off Highway 1.
There have been no fatal collisions since 2017, according to MPI's records and the Manitoba RCMP.
Still, Blight said it's not enough.
"Traffic lights have proven to be not the answer," he said.
An interchange is needed, he said, but he thinks something more needs to be done in the meantime to make the area safer, such as more warning lights.
"We've already lost too many individuals at that intersection," said Blight.
The driver of the truck that collided with the vehicle Roulette and Hunking were in pleaded guilty in April 2019 to a charge of careless driving causing death under the Highway Traffic Act and was given a $3,000 fine, along with a one-year driving suspension.
There was no evidence of dangerous driving or the driver deliberately running the red light.
Court heard the truck driver didn't see the flash of an overhead light warning the traffic light would be turning red and didn't have enough time to stop his semi once the light did change.
Hunking said she's still "very, very cautious" going through that intersection.
"It's just very, very scary at that intersection. I don't know if it's for everybody that goes through it, but for our family it definitely is."
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