Another driver recalls intersection warnings - May. 14, 2010
BY JOHN GARDNER
john@stcroixcourier.ca
WAWEIG – Recent changes in signs, and a reduced speed limit did not come soon enough according to one traveller.
Last fall Carl Fowler and his wife, Vickie, were returning to their home in Moncton after a visit with their son in Ottawa. They then cross the border to spend time visiting friends in New England.
Late in the evening on August 30, they crossed into Milltown.
“I knew there was a new road, but I didn’t know where you accessed it,” said Fowler.
Around 9:30 p.m. he went around a curve, and there was an unexpected stop sign.
They had just reached the intersection of highways 127 and 170.
Fowler slammed on the brakes, but still slid by the stop sign.
There was a car coming north on Highway 127, from St. Andrews. Alertly, Fowler cut the wheel hard, while the other driver skidded toward the ditch, narrowly avoiding a crash.
Such was not the case for the Isenors from Wallace, Nova Scotia, who failed to stop on April 19. Elizabeth Isenor was killed when her husband Kendall Isenor missed the same stop sign.
When the two drivers caught their breath they stopped to talk.
“What is this?” demanded Fowler. He informed the driver that he had been driving that route for over 30 years and never had to stop before.
“They changed everything,” said the other driver.
Fowler thought about that incident all the way home to Moncton. He continued to think about it for the next few days. In early September, he made contact with the Department of Transportation and told his story.
“I know that in all my years of travelling there was never a stop sign there. I wasn’t expecting one, and it is just a miracle that no one got killed,” said Fowler referring to his own experience. “I told them it was a death trap.”
His story was dismissed because the intersection met national standards.
“It didn’t matter what my perspective was … it met national standards.”
In the past week changes have been made on that intersection.
A new sign was erected warning motorists that Route 170 was coming to an end.
The speed limit was reduced from 80 kph to 70 kph.
And an additional “Stop ahead” sign was installed.
“I am upset that somebody had to die before the province is actually going to take some kind of action to address the situation.”
No charges will be laid in the fatality of Isenor.
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