Tragic stories and pleas for change as road crash victims remembered
Majority of fatal crashes are preventable, groups say
When Sarah Pittman thinks of her life, she splits her time in two: life before her husband Shannon died, and live without him.
"But I won't let Shannon's life be completely in vain," Sarah Pittman told a crowd gathered at Confederation Building Wednesday.
Sarah Pittman and Randy Ralph's wife, Frankie, spoke about their husbands, their advocacy and their loss, at the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims service.
Randy Ralph, 52, and Shannon Pittman, 40, were passengers in an SUV that was struck by a five-tonne truck at full-speed on the Trans-Canada Highway in April 2016.
"Randy and Shannon didn't deserve to die this way, at the hands of a distracted driver ... a driver who was found guilty yet only got a $180 ticket," Frankie Ralph said.
The annual day of remembrance brings together family and friends of road traffic accidents, first responders and advocacy groups.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said there have been five deaths on roads on the northeast Avalon so far in 2018.
Death by numbers
Also this year, the RNC said it has laid 257 charges for driving while impaired by drug and/or alcohol.
In the past five years, 182 people were killed in 154 crashes responded to by the RCMP in the province.
"That's a staggering and heartbreaking number of deaths — one of which was the daughter of our own police officer, said RCMP Chief Supt. Garrett Woolsey.
In the crowd were people like Sherree Davis, who lost her 17-year-old daughter Alyssa shortly before Christmas three years ago.
Alyssa Davis was a passenger in a car that was speeding, in a chase with another vehicle on Peacekeeper Way highway in Conception Bay South.
"I have a hard time driving myself because of being up on that highway that night. I don't go on certain highways," Sherree Davis said.
"The speeding on these highways, I'll tell you, is outrageous. If you're speeding and you take the life of someone else, you have to live with that for the rest of your life."
'Quadriplegic because of a moose'
But the event wasn't just for those who have died — it's also for those who survived and are living testaments to dangers on the roadways.
One such person is Linda Bishop, whose life was forever altered after she collided with a moose on her drive to work on Oct. 25, 2004.
"When I hear of a moose vehicle accident that says 'one gone to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries' — that's what they said about me, about Ben Bellows, Brent Cole and Philip Drover, who ended up in the wheelchair for life. Quadriplegic because of a moose," said Bishop, who is the current chairperson of SOPAC (Save Our People Action Committee).
"I lost my career ... finances, my family was affected."