Family of teacher killed in Highway 138 crash calls for safety upgrades
Adriana Chrétien-Lewis, 27, died Feb. 24 in crash near Cornwall
The family of a teacher from Rockland, Ont., killed last week in a crash north of Cornwall, Ont., is calling for urgent upgrades to make Highway 138 safer.
Adriana Chrétien-Lewis, 27, died Feb. 24 in a two-vehicle crash on the single-lane highway near Wheeler Road, about 15 kilometres north of Cornwall.
She taught Grade 3 at École élémentaire catholique Marie-Tanguay in Cornwall and had been returning home at the time of the mid-afternoon crash.
The driver of the other vehicle was taken to hospital in critical condition, police said, while two of their passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries.
More rumble strips needed
Her cousin Matthew Hamelin said she had just married last year, was planning to have children and eventually find a teaching position closer to her current home in Embrun, Ont.
"When she first got the [Cornwall] job, I just told myself 'It's so far," Hamelin said.
"Obviously, no one ever thought that this would happen — but she did it because she loved teaching."
Hamelin told Radio-Canada the highway desperately needs more rumble strips running down the middle, which would alert drivers when they've crossed the centre line and have entered the path of oncoming traffic.
"This is a message that I definitely want to get out there — is those rumble strips are especially important on this major highway route," he said.
"It's the major route between the 401 and the 417. There are so many transports that take that route."
OPP have not shared specific details about the cause of the collision.
Thousands of vehicles a day
According to Ontario's Ministry of Transportation, there were 51 crashes reported on Highway 138 in 2019 and six so far in 2020.
The crash that killed Chrétien-Lewis was the first fatal collision in two years.
"That highway is increasing a lot in terms of the amount of traffic. I think they're up to about 16,000 vehicles a day," said Bryan McGillis, the mayor of South Stormont, Ont.
McGillis said another problem with the 35-kilometre highway — which cuts through his rural township — is that there are currently too few dedicated passing lanes, meaning that drivers use turning lanes instead to get by slower vehicles.
The Ontario government began studying potential improvements to Highway 138 in 2016 and some upgrades have already been approved, including some passing lanes and a roundabout.
McGillis said he met with Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney shortly after the fatal crash and had a "long discussion" about the highway.
"Some people are thinking that OK, there's a lot of human error [in Highway 138 crashes]. Which there is. But let's try and do everything we can to reduce that," said McGillis.
"If people just follow the speed limit and not pass when they're not supposed to pass, the road will be safe. But it's not right now."
With files from Radio-Canada's Audrey Roy