THUNDER BAY – The co-founder of a Fb group that is drawn consideration to unsafe driving on Northern Ontario highways says it is completed its objective, and it is time to shut it down.
As of Wednesday, no new posts might be revealed by Freeway 11/17 Kills Folks.
Patrick Leblanc and fellow truck driver Martin Houle – assisted later by Richard Deschamps – began the group 5 years in the past after a buddy died in a collision west of Thunder Bay.
“One night time I used to be at house, and I acquired a name that he had died on the time-zone plaque close to Upsala. My buddy and I, we began crying . . . I mentioned ‘We have to do one thing. We’re truck drivers. We want to carry consciousness to the individuals and the media. We have to create a gaggle,’ ” Leblanc recalled in an interview Monday.
The Fb group has been phenomenally profitable, with over 60,000 members and 1000’s of posts highlighting collisions and near-collisions on the 2 important highways via Northern Ontario.
“We achieved our important objective: warn individuals of the issue,” Leblanc wrote in a message saying the choice to shut the group.
He mentioned it is succeeded past the founders’ expectations, however they’ll not deal with the workload.
“We’ve solely three or 4 individuals to handle that. It is an excessive amount of. We’ve lives to reside, and work to do. And you must see the quantity of personal messages that we obtain,” he advised TBnewswatch.
Within the message to group members, he added: “It takes a variety of time to handle, maintain it up to date and – largely – freed from spam. We requested for assist up to now, and solely two members confirmed curiosity. Not too long ago, it is all about racism, shaming different members, all the time criticizing those who publish on the group . . . It is possibly simply 10% of the members who act like this, however it’s all the time the identical members, and took a variety of time and drain[ed] power. Our endurance reached the restrict.”
Leblanc and his accomplice have been administering the Fb group whereas persevering with to drive a transport truck as staff drivers for 70 hours per week.
Staff truck driving sees two individuals working the identical automobile in shifts.
Leblanc has pushed transport vehicles for 26 years, together with 15 years and a whole lot of runs via Northern Ontario.
“We’ve seen so many crashes, so many individuals with blood on their faces. I’ve seen individuals die on the pavement in entrance of me . . . on the finish I used to be fearing for my life due to all that we find out about how [some] drivers get their licence and the trucking faculties . . . Throughout Canada, there are some faculties which can be one of many massive issues, not the one drawback, however one of many massive issues.”
He mentioned insufficient coaching and unfamiliarity with winter driving situations on two-lane roads are simply two of the problems that should be addressed to enhance security on Highways 11 and 17.
Leblanc additionally feels competitors amongst smaller firms leads to them reducing their charges to get enterprise, which in flip causes them to curtail mechanical inspections and cut back their drivers’ pay.
He mentioned he is aware of many drivers with as much as 30 years of expertise who’ve determined to name it quits as a result of they fear for their very own lives.
Leblanc himself is not driving within the North, as a current swap to a different employer now sees him taking runs to California.
However he is holding out the chance Freeway 11/17 Kills Folks might be restarted sometime if somebody steps ahead to assist handle it.
Within the meantime, he mentioned he and his companions recognize the expressions of gratitude which have come their method for the reason that announcement of the shutdown.
“We’re receiving a variety of love from individuals. We simply wished to have a protected highway. That is it.”
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