[ernie]

My condolences to the family. I can't imagine how unbelievably hard this holiday season will be for the loved ones involved. A damn shame and something that didn't need to happen.

Perhaps its because I pay attention to these things more now then I used to but there seems to be more and more accidents involving cement trucks and rigs in general. And unfortunately with cement trucks there is often only the most tragic result for the vehicle that gets hit.

In Halifax in the last year or so there have bee three incidents I remember.

A guy was killed on 233 near Hammonds Plains when he got struck with a full cement truck. I'm not sure but I believe the deceased made an unsafe left hand turn on that one.

In another one, on the Bedford highway a couple of teenagers lost their lives when they swerved into on coming traffic at precisely the wrong moment and went directly into and underneath a cement truck.

The other one was completely the cement truck drivers fault. It was a two lane exit and he couldn't make the turn. The cement truck flipped over right on top of the car next to it.

I'll be brutally honest, though only one of the above scenarios was the fault of the cement truck driver in Nova Scotia the drivers of cement trucks and rigs are terrible. I will go out of my way to not have one on my tail or even beside me (I usually did anyways but here it is almost imperative to do so or you will get hit if you have to stop short or by the truck driver not even bothering to chek to see if the lane is clear when he changes lanes). Unfortunately in the this case that wouldn't have mattered. You trust that people will stop at red lights and be in at least some reasonable control of the vehicle and their faculties.

As a general trend it seems to me that drivers are getting worse and worse. I think its time for mandatory driver education for people getting new licenses and perhaps even periodic re-tests when you come up for renewal. I think it is imperative that licensing for these big construction vehicles be strictly controlled and monitored. I also think municipalities have to think things through and make sure intersections are safe and any dangerous intesection reporst are taken seriously. If there can be any good to come out of such a tragedy I hope that this would be it.