THUNDER BAY — The death of his son in a tragic collision on the Thunder Bay Expressway last October is something Jim Bailey will never get over.
It's the prime motivation behind his push for a petition against diverting more transport trucks to the Expressway.
His 19-year-old son, Dallas, was killed when his vehicle went out of control on a slippery stretch of road between the Harbour Expressway and Oliver Road and was struck by an oncoming vehicle.
Bailey—who has previously advocated for concrete medians to divide the southbound and northbound lanes—says the highway in its present form can't handle an additional 400 to 500 transports daily without endangering other lives.
"Losing Dallas on his way to work on Oct. 17 changed my life forever, and changed the lives of a lot of people around him. I don't want to see any other parent go through this," Bailey said in an interview with Tbnewswatch.
The Thunder Bay man was encouraged this week to learn that city council had delayed ratifying the truck ban on Dawson Road and Arthur Street.
"Oh, it was a huge relief. This was so important," he said. "We can put together a committee now, and we can start organizing" against the city's truck route plan.
Bailey's petition had 1,700 signatures by mid-afternoon Tuesday, and he's aiming for thousands more names before city council's next vote on the designated truck route on March 4.
"We need to step back and think about what we are doing. We need to make smart choices."
In his opinion, two of those choices are "really simple"—installing flashing caution lights in advance of each intersection along the Expressway, and reducing the speed limit to 70 or 80 kilometres an hour.
Bailey said if the end result is that it takes drivers an extra 15 minutes to travel, that's not important if it means people are kept safe.
He also feels that if trucks are diverted through Kakabeka Falls, a Community Safety Zone should be established on the highway there in order to deter speeding.
The petition can be viewed on Bailey's Facebook page.
