Change needed at deadly intersection on major Manitoba highway, says mom

Sylvia Gertsen lost her teenage daughters Sophie and Acacia here in 2021 in a horrific car crash on highway 75, one of Manitoba's busiest highways and a major trucking route to the U.S. Gertsen revisited the scene in St. Agathe to support the thousand residents who signed a petition demanding the intersection be made safer. I was moved, I was somewhat triggered as well, it's not just us. There's a whole community here that has felt the ripple effects of the risks here. Sophie and Acacia drove over the Red River on PR 305 and were trying to cross the highway on their way to their sister's wedding shower when they collided with a semi. They were declared dead at the scene. Sophie was 17, Acacia 15. Guy Saint-Hilaire says he's seen too many crashes here. Another crash last November made him feel he had to do something. We came across an accident right here. I mean it had just happened. There was no emergency vehicles there at all yet. Glass all over the highway. The Saint-Agathe resident went door-to-door in his town gathering signatures. PC Manitoba Interim Leader Conrad North says his party has formally brought St. Agathe's petition forward in the Legislature. North says it doesn't need to be a $200 million dollar overpass, but he wants the NDP government to study how to improve the intersection, where large trucks slowly crawl between stop signs, and hope other drivers see them. That's all that they can do right now, but it isn't a safe option. It's a decision though that's being made by every truck that we see at this intersection. In the short term, residents here are asking for rumble strips and flashing red lights on the stop signs. The more we are made aware of the things that can go wrong at these places, we can only do better. Gertsen says she isn't sure if these changes could have saved Sophie and Acacia, but they may save someone else's children. Christopher Gouraud, CBC News, St. Agathe.