Brothers injured in crash at infamous Manitoba intersection had learned only hours earlier of mother's death
Travis and Rod Spence were headed to Winnipeg to make funeral arrangements for mother before July 31 crash
On their way to say goodbye to their mother, Travis and Rod Spence did not imagine they would end up in hospital themselves after being T-boned at the same Trans-Canada Highway intersection where 17 seniors lost their lives only a few weeks earlier.
The Spence brothers were involved in a crash at the southwestern Manitoba intersection, just north of Carberry, on July 31, only hours after they had found out their mother had died in her sleep in Winnipeg overnight.
"We were already in pain and disbelief before the accident," Travis said.
The two were in an SUV with their friend Laverne Ducharme and her daughter. Ducharme had offered to pick up Travis from his home in Sioux Valley and take the two grieving brothers to Winnipeg so they could say their goodbyes to their mother and start making funeral arrangements.
Ducharme was driving eastbound when a southbound truck crossing the Trans-Canada on Highway 5 collided with her SUV.
The crash was eerily similar to the one on June 15, where a southbound bus carrying 25 Dauphin seniors was hit by an eastbound semi at the same spot.
"Somebody told me there was still skid marks there [from the June crash].… I kind of saw them driving by" in the SUV on July 31, said Travis Spence.
"Now there's ours. Our skid mark is there."
Those are the physical marks left behind by the crash that still haunts everyone involved, as they struggle to overcome the mental and emotional ones.
"We were the lucky ones. But the elders weren't," said Travis. "That 17 [killed in the crash] was the most devastating one."
Ducharme, who was airlifted to Winnipeg by STARS air ambulance in critical condition, can still hear the voices of the first responders who helped save her.
"They had to use the Jaws of Life and cut me out," she said. "I could feel that stinging and that pain.… They kept saying 'look at us,' but I didn't want to open my eyes."
The brothers and Ducharme's 13-year-old daughter were taken to hospital in Brandon.
Rod Spence had a collapsed lung and broken collarbone. His prosthetic leg was ripped off in the crash and he was unable to get out of the car on his own.
"The airbag deployed, hit my face, snapped my glasses and gave me a wicked black eye," Rod said. "My body still hurts. I'm still recovering."
Travis, who was sitting behind the driver's seat, had a large gash to his forehead that required multiple staples and stitches.
He said he put his seatbelt on mere seconds before the crash, and feels lucky to be alive.
"I remember … my kid giving me heck for not putting my seatbelt on recently," he said. "I could hear her [in my head], so I put my seatbelt on and right after that it was like a snap."
Both brothers say they feel their mother was looking over them that day.
"We just lost our mom, and she was right there protecting us still," Rod said. "You know, our angel. My guardian angel."
Struggles after crash
Ducharme was in a coma for five days after the crash. She spent a month in the hospital and is still dealing with significant injuries.
She now has two rods and 16 screws holding her shattered right ankle together. Her left knee was fractured, and she needs a wheelchair to move around.
She has four children at home and two friends who have been working as caregivers to help her out.
She said she has had little communication with Manitoba Public Insurance since the crash due to the ongoing strike by workers at the corporation.
Six weeks after the crash, her vehicle still hadn't been inspected. That means she hasn't been able to get a rental car for her caregiver to help her get groceries and get to appointments.
It also means her monthly car and insurance payments have continued to come out of her bank account, and she is struggling to make ends meet.
"I was going to go to [Harvest Manitoba for help], but everything is so far apart. I can't very well put my little boy on my lap and wheel myself down the road to make it places," she said.
MPI refused CBC's interview request, saying it does not comment on matters pertaining to individual customers.
The day CBC reached out to MPI about her claim, Ducharme said she was immediately contacted by a representative who said an inspector was finally going out to look at her car.
While it's unclear whether the driver of the other vehicle suffered any injuries, RCMP said he was ticketed.
He was charged under the Highway Traffic Act for proceeding through the intersection before it was safe to do so and fined $174.
Renewed call for changes at intersection
At the time of the July 31 crash, there had already been calls for safety changes at the Trans-Canada and Highway 5 intersection, following the June 15 crash that left 17 dead and sent several others to hospital.
As of this week, the driver of the mini-bus transporting the Dauphin seniors was the last remaining victim of that crash in hospital.
Some safety upgrades have been made at the intersection. Rumble strips and other safety features were refurbished, replaced and added there, but that work wasn't completed until after the July 31 crash.
Last month, the province said it is also working on adding advance warning signs and that a full review of the intersection, which will identify options for longer-term safety improvements, is expected to be complete by the late fall.
"I wish they would put lights there. Something should have been done there after the bus accident," Rod said. "I don't know why the province is taking so long."
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