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Petition
Presented November 30, 2009
Vehicle Collisions with Moose on our Highways
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MR. SPEAKER:
The hon.
the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I stand today to present
a petition on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, asking and calling upon
government to take some action in terms of dealing with
the number of vehicle collisions with moose on our
highways throughout Newfoundland and Labrador
.
The committee which was started by a
number of interested people across the Province is
headed by Eugene Nippard, whom we have all heard of in
the media on many occasions. Mr. Nippard and his
organization, called Save Our People Action Committee,
is comprised of people from all across the Province who
have been affected by accidents with moose. They are
either individuals themselves who have been left with
tremendous disabilities and anguish, Mr. Speaker, as a
result of accidents they themselves have had, or they
are the family members of others who have lost their
lives on our highways due to collisions with moose.
Mr. Speaker, these individuals have
come together and they have done research in other
provinces across
Canada
to look at how other provinces have dealt with vehicle
accidents with moose on highways. They have made a
number of recommendations in the public and they have
provided those recommendations to government through
various ministers and departments, asking for government
to look at those options, look at what can be
implemented to save lives on our own highways.
In the past year alone, Mr. Speaker,
in fact since January, there have been four fatalities
on our highways where people have lost their lives.
Mr. Speaker, I heard a lady on the
radio this morning talking about how her husband had
lost his life as a result of a vehicle collision with a
moose; a lady by the name of Jennifer Pilgrim. Mr.
Speaker, her story is all too common. It is all too
common to too many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians
today.
I sat in my office only a few weeks
ago and listened to the story of a young woman who
worked as a nurse, who had an accident on her way to
work, who has been off work for the last five years and
has been suffering from chronic pain and disabilities,
and spending a lot of money to try and rehabilitate
herself so that she, too, can have a satisfactory
standard of living. These are the stories that are all
too common across Newfoundland and Labrador
.
In addition to four fatalities on our
highways this year with moose, we have had 700 accidents
on those highways. If you look at where these accidents
are occurring, some of them are in areas that are much
more common. There may be an increased volume of
traffic, but there are also increased moose populations
in those particular areas.
Mr. Speaker, if there is a way that
we can reduce the number of families each year in this
Province that are left in mourning for someone they
love, who has been killed as a result of a moose
accident, if there is some way, Mr. Speaker, we can
alleviate the pain, the hardship and the financial
burden that is put on many victims of accidents in these
collisions on our highways, then we have a
responsibility as governments and as a Province to
actually do something about it.
Twenty thousand of those people
across Newfoundland and Labrador are calling upon you today, Minister -
MR. SPEAKER:
Order,
please!
I remind the hon. member that her
time for speaking has expired.
MS JONES:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
Just, by leave, to
clue up?
MR. SPEAKER:
Does the
hon. member have leave?
The hon. member by leave.
MS JONES:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
Twenty thousand of those people today
- and I am sure, Mr. Speaker, there are many more out
there across Newfoundland and Labrador who did not get
the opportunity to sign this petition - are asking the
government today to hear our concerns and to take some
action. The action that they want is: they want you to
evaluate options. They want you to look at what will
work best on our highways to reduce the number of
vehicle-moose accidents, and they want you to look at
this in the light of enacting those particular
recommendations.
So, on behalf of those people, Mr.
Speaker, I make their case in the House of Assembly
today and I ask that government give this full
consideration.
Thank you. |
