Frequent accidents, heavy traffic leads government to examine Veterans Memorial Highway

Following the deaths of 15 people on Newfoundland and Labrador's highways since Aug. 1, the province's Department of Transportation and Works is taking a closer look at traffic onVeterans Memorial Highway.

• Crash survivor calls for passing lanes on Veterans Memorial Highway
• 3 people killed in crash on Veterans Memorial Highway
• Two die after collision on Veterans Memorial Highway

The roadway, near Bay Roberts, claimed the lives of three people on Monday.

Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker says that the highway sees heavy traffic, between 6,000 and 9,000 cars per day, and there have been over 200 incidents there over the past four years.

Crocker said after speaking with mayors of communities in the Conception Bay North area and examining highway data, one possible solution was to add passing lanes on the narrow road, which often has issues with bottlenecking.

A petition has also been started to try to persuade government to add the extra lanes.

But Crocker said there are still too many dangerous drivers on Veterans Memorial.

"It's important to remind people that we need to drive safely on that road," he said.

"But, it's our duty as government to make sure that we make our roads as safe as possible for people."

High speeds 'common'

Crocker added that government's data found that speed is also often an issue.

"Speeds over 120 km/h are more than common. It's, unfortunately, regular. And even more alarming, we also found speeds in some cases up to 150 km/h," the minister said.

"These weren't one-offs of 150 km/h, these were consistent."

These weren't one-offs of 150 km/h, these were consistent.- Steve Crocker

He said government will meet in the next few months to planroadwork for next year and will be holding consultations.

"Under our commitment to make our roads plan more open and accessible to people, we're going to go out and have a consultation process this fall that invites people to have their say."

The province also plans to talk with the RCMP to determine any contributing factors to recent accidents and to discuss road safety.