Moose cause 3rd accident near Confederation Bridge

A man escaped serious injury Saturday when his truck collided with a moose on the New Brunswick highway that leads to P.E.I. Two died after hitting a moose there in late December.

A third accident happened along the same stretch when a school bus carrying high school students struck a moose in October. No one was injured in that accident.  

Jimmy Trenholm told CBC News Thursday there needs to be more hunting to cut the population of the animals.

Trenholm was driving to the gas station in Port Elgin Saturday around 7 p.m. along Route 16 when he hit a moose. He believes the only thing that saved him was he was driving a one-ton truck.

"I guess it didn't come out of nowhere, but I didn't see it until it was too late. The on-coming lights and that, you just can't see them," said Trenholm.

"I don't even know if my foot hit the brake before I hit the moose. Pushed the hood back about half-way to the windshield, I would say. If it had been a car it would have been a different story. Think I'm pretty damn lucky that I didn't get hurt."

Trenholm said he had a near miss in the same spot a couple of weeks ago while in a car.

Elderly neighbours of Trenholm's in Port Elgin were not so lucky. Mae and Kenneth Legere were both killed when their car struck a moose along that stretch of highway at the end of December.

Trenholm wants the province to either increase hunting licences or extend the three-day hunting season to reduce moose numbers.

The New Brunswick government issued 810 extra moose hunting licences last year, all in areas with high moose vehicle collisions, but the number of moose killed was not any higher than the year before.

This year's hunting licence numbers will be announced in May.