Moose crashes targeted in N.L. petition

A woman whose husband was killed in a moose-vehicle collision earlier this year is one of 20,000 who have signed a petition to be handed over to the provincial government Monday.

Jennifer Pilgrim's husband Roy died in March on the highway between Grand Falls-Windsor and Bishop's Falls.

"First I was taking one hour at a time," she told CBC News. "Now I take one day." 

Pilgrim, speaking for the first time publicly since her husband's death to support the petition, said the moose darted onto the highway and smashed into her husband's car, killing him instantly.

"[Roy] just came out from the underpass just west of Bishop's Falls when a moose came up from out of the ditch and came into the passenger side of the car, peeled the top of the car off just like you would be opening a can of sardines and struck Roy on the right side of his face," she told CBC News.

"The moose then went down on to the road and ran into another vehicle and then went out into the field."

Pilgrim said her husband, a retired teacher, was a cautious driver and she believes his death was avoidable.

"I heard that moose was in that area for two days. Had that moose been removed, maybe, just maybe, Roy would be here with us today. But I don't think they're doing anything."

The petition calls for the province to do more to help cut down on the number of collisions, including cutting the brush that grows around highways, allowing more hunting, building wildlife fencing along highways, as well as removing nuisance moose.

There are more than 700 collisions annually involving moose on the province's roads.

Eugene Nippard, one of the people behind the petition, said the province has had four deaths so far in 2009.

He said the province's responsibility doesn't end with posting moose signs and warning people to slow down or stay off the road at night.

"The education that they're doing on this is just not enough," Nippard said. "It's dark 4:30 in the evening, so what do you do, shut the province down?"

Nippard wants the province to build wildlife fences along highways, like those erected by the government of New Brunswick, where there are only about half as many car-moose collisions.

There are no official statistics available on whether the fences in New Brunswick are making a difference but RCMP there say they've seen a noticeable drop in accidents involving moose, and they say they're seeing far fewer injuries and fatalities.

Tom Marshall, Newfoundland and Labrador's acting transportation minister, said government isn't pursuing that option.

"We're not convinced that the use of fencing is being effective," he told CBC News. "Our focus will be on brush cutting, by using mechanical harvesters, and also our public awareness campaign to tell people there are certain times of the day, dusk and dawn, there are certain times of the year, when we have to be more aware and we have to slow down."

The petition will be presented to government Monday, when the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature reopens for its fall sitting.