Safety crusader, truckers say changes are needed to stop wrecks in N.L.'s notorious Wreckhouse

A retired senior in southwestern Newfoundland says he's so concerned about highway safety in an area prone to hurricane-force winds that he's advocating for stricter safety measures — and some commercial truckers agree with him.

Winds in the Wreckhouse area funnel through mountains and create gusts that often reach, and sometimes exceed, 150 km/h. At those times, large transport trucks frequently topple over, sometimes blowing off the Trans-Canada Highway or jackknifing across it. 

Frank AuCoin, who lives in nearby Codroy, said he believes commercial trucks are a threat to the safety of people in passenger vehicles, which tend to be less vulnerable to high winds but are also advised to pull over at times.

Provincially maintained message boards located on either end of the Wreckhouse area are continually updated with current wind conditions. When wind gusts in the Wreckhouse exceed 80 km/h, the message board reads: "High Wind Advisory, Wind Gusts Exceeding 80 km/h, Trucks Advised to Pull Over."

But AuCoin said the signs are nearly useless without enforcement, as some truck drivers don't heed the advisories and continue through the area.

"If they ignore that sign and continue driving, this is where we should have some enforcement," said AuCoin in an interview with CBC News.

Keep on truckin'

For the past three years AuCoin has spent his days researching, making calls to request information, and pleading with government officials to take action to prevent people from being injured or killed at Wreckhouse.

The advocacy has become a crusade for AuCoin, but he said it's discouraging that it hasn't led to more attention from decision-makers.

"My concern is the safety of the travelling public," said AuCoin. "It's just a matter of time when there's going to be a serious accident."

AuCoin said the large electronic billboards on the Trans-Canada Highway should be sufficient enough to convince commercial drivers to pull over. 

But he said his research has convinced him it's time to stop relying on the honour system to prevent rollovers.

"My objective is eventually to have a barricade or some sort of a means of stopping the traffic and diverting them to a safe location," said AuCoin.

Waiting out the wind

Commercial truck drivers are similarly dismayed by the number of rollovers they're seeing between the Codroy Valley and Port aux Basques.

Curtis Cutler travels through the Wreckhouse quite often on his way to and from the Marine Atlantic ferry to Nova Scotia, and he's been caught in higher-than-anticipated winds at times.

"You just basically get a death grip on the wheel, and just hope and pray that you get lucky," said Cutler.

"I made the mistake when I first started driving and, going through there, I had the wind actually lift the hood on my truck where I could see the engine while I was driving," he recalled.

But Cutler told CBC that going through the Wreckhouse in high winds is a poor idea, and his approach now is not to wait for an advisory. Instead, when gusts exceed 70 km/h and he's hauling an empty trailer, Cutler said, he stops in an area near the highway and waits for winds to subside.

Stan Reid, a commercial driver who travels through the Wreckhouse twice a week, said he also stops when the winds are high, rather than pushing on.

He claims most of the trucks that blow over are operated by drivers who aren't familiar with that stretch of highway. Reid said he can relate to the challenges they face.

He told CBC News he still thinks back more than 30 years to his first trip through the Wreckhouse as a commercial truck driver when he was travelling with an empty trailer. 

"I was green to the truck-driving world, and I went on through, and I was empty. I made it into Port aux Basques. Looking backing now, I don't know how," said Reid.

Caution with the wind

Cutler and Reid don't necessarily embrace the idea of barricades, but they suggest more warning signs and a mandatory rest area or checkpoint could go a long way toward convincing drivers to delay their travel through the area.

Cutler said fines for those who ignore the warnings might help, as it is in everyone's best interests to reduce the number of incidents.

"If they try to go by whatever was set up, they roll over. That's the ultimate punishment that's delivered right from Mother Nature when you try to defy her," said Cutler.

Reid said replacing a truck and trailer will cost a driver or their company between $400,000 and $500,000 plus the cost of whatever the trailer might have been carrying.

Wind risk

AuCoin said it's not just people who choose to travel who face potential danger when commercial truck drivers don't comply with warnings to stay off the Trans-Canada, but also people who need to travel in an emergency.

He said he worries about what would happen if someone in his area needed to be rushed to the nearest hospital in Port aux Basques while a jackknifed tractor trailer is sprawled across the highway.

"Someone's life could be in jeopardy because of this," said AuCoin.

CBC asked the provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Department whether the government would consider stronger warnings or closing the highway in peak wind gusts. 

An emailed statement from spokesperson Maria Browne on the department's behalf said message boards on either end of the Wreckhouse area are linked to Environment Canada's weather station and display wind speeds and advisories.

The statement said the information is also communicated on the province's travel app and website known as NL511 and it is automatically shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the account @nl511updates.

The department's email said the combination of message boards, mobile app, website and social media "are appropriate in helping motorists make informed decisions before travelling."

"Safety on our province's roadways is a collaborative effort," says the statement.

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