Dump truck gives woman close call on Peacekeepers
By Craig Westcott
As the chairman of Holyrood’s public safety committee, Bruce King often includes in his monthly reports exhortations to take care on the community’s roads and trails or take action when it comes to crime proofing properties against burglars. Last month, King delivered a safety message about highway driving, and related a recent incident that had hit pretty close to home for him.
“There was an incident that happened to a lady Thursday (June 20),” said King. “She was on her way to St. John’s on Peacekeepers Way, and she was passed by a dump truck. She was coming that way, and the dump truck was coming in the opposite direction. There was a shower of rocks came out of the back of the truck. It wasn’t gravel, it wasn’t sand. It was rocks the size of a baseball. It beat the front off her vehicle. It cracked the windshield and damaged the roof. And by the grace of God, or whoever, if it had come through the windshield, it would have probably killed her. It was such a panic, she couldn’t identify the truck. It was reported to the RNC, it was reported to the insurance company, and it was put on social media. It’s amazing the numbers of people who have (experienced) the same incidents.”
King said when it comes to road safety, you have to watch out for everything – other traffic, moose, people texting while driving, the condition of the road.
“The roads are becoming one of the most dangerous places for you to have any dealings with, and it’s becoming unreal,” King said. “The last part of that little story, the woman who was in the vehicle – I live with her. She is my wife (Dorothy). And she was absolutely shocked to the point that she was still shaking when she got home.”
King said what he finds most irritating about such incidents is that the people who own and operate the trucks don’t seem to take responsibility for public safety.
“These people stick a sign on the back of a truck saying, ‘Any damage is not our responsibility,'” King said. “If you’re speeding, and you’re going in the other direction and the rocks are coming off the back of your truck and you’re flying, you should be held responsible, as far as I’m concerned anyway. Those signs should be gone. Because it would be no different than me sitting down tonight, drinking about six or seven beers, putting a sign on the back of my truck saying if I run into you, it’s not my responsibility. There needs to be something done about stuff like that because the roads are becoming very, very dangerous.”