Ontario government may be liable for Highway 3 crashes, says lawyer
Man who survived serious collision on Highway 3 urges province to widen roadway
A Windsor personal injury lawyer is considering legal action against the province over the government's unwillingness to widen a deadly stretch of Highway 3 in Essex County.
Eleven fatal crashes were reported along the two-lane section of Highway 3 between 1993 and 2015, according to the latest numbers available from the province
"Certainly there would be an argument to be made that the province may hold some liability," said Jennifer Bezaire, personal injury lawyer and partner with Greg Monforton & Partners.
"If the roadway had been widened, accidents like this maybe wouldn't have been as severe or perhaps wouldn't have happened at all."
Watch as Nahim Ibrahim recounts the life-altering collision:
Bezaire said her law firm receives a "disproportionate" number of calls involving crashes on Highway 3 — specifically involving the stretch of road that has not yet been widened.
As the provincial election campaign kicks into high gear, so do calls to expand that deadly section of Highway 3 in Essex County.
Nahim Ibrahim was involved in a fatal collision in that area two years ago. He says a driver in the opposite direction lost control, swerved into the gravel shoulder then back into oncoming traffic, striking his vehicle head-on.
"It's something I don't even care to think about," he said. "Every time I think about it, it brings me back to the point of impact where I blacked out and it's just horrifying."
A passenger in the other vehicle died following the crash. Ibrahim said he still carries guilt from the collision even though there wasn't enough time for him to react.
Crash victim calls for road widening
Ibrahim is just one of the many voices calling on the province to widen the highway. Had there been more room, he said "things would have probably come out totally different."
"Even though it wasn't my fault, I was still there. It was my car that was involved in the impact. You still can't help but have a sense of responsibility," he said. "Had I not been there, they wouldn't have hit anyone. It's horrifying. It's absolutely horrifying."
So horrifying, Ibrahim said he's been forced to seek psychological therapy, nearly three years after the crash.
EMS call response numbers obtained by CBC News show 193 reports of collisions between 2013 and 2017 on the single-lane stretch of road from County Road 8 in Essex to Highway 77 in Leamington.
Ibrahim said he hasn't been able to return to work since the collision. He still walks with a limp because his heel bone was fractured in seven different places. Even with treatment and medication, Ibrahim says he's in constant agony.
Had I not been there, they wouldn't have hit anyone. It's horrifying.- Nahim Ibrahim, survived fatal Hwy. 3 crash
"Non-stop pain," he said. "On a scale in the evenings, 10 out of 10."
Those are just some of the reasons why he's suing the other driver and his own insurance company for some compensation.
Ont. 'most definitely' looking at future lawsuits
Bezaire is representing Ibrahim and said although his case didn't warrant taking legal action against the province, others could. If the highway isn't widened soon, she predicts Ontario will "most definitely" be looped into a lawsuit.
"There's definite exposure there on the province for not doing it," said Bezaire. "There just isn't enough room for vehicles to correct themselves and accidents to be avoided in that area."
The province has not yet approved funding for the Highway 3 expansion from Essex to Leamington, although an environmental study was completed in 2006. Right now it's in queue under Ontario's Southern Highways Program for Planning for the Future, meaning construction is outside of a five-year scope.
In the meantime, design work for the Highway 3 expansion is underway.
Province 'committed' to widening Hwy. 3
"Our government is committed to widening the remaining two-lane section of Highway 3 between Leamington and Windsor," Minister of Transportation Kathryn McGarry wrote in an email to CBC News.
McGarry won't speak about the government's potential liability, according to a spokesperson who stated "the Ministry of Transportation does not comment on legal issues."
If funding is approved for the widening of Highway 3, the province said more engineering work and property acquisition will need to happen.
Opposition questions if highway will ever be widened
Essex NDP MPP Taras Natyshak said he has resigned himself to the fact that this project will ever be completed under the Liberals.
"If they really wanted to do it, they would have done it six years ago, eight years ago, 20 years ago," said Natyshak. "There's no project more shovel-ready in the province of Ontario than the expansion and third phase of Highway 3."
Chris Lewis is the newly-nominated PC candidate for the riding of Essex. He's also a former volunteer firefighter from Kingsville who responded to many crashes along the two-lane stretch of Highway 3.
Lewis said if he's elected widening the highway would be his "number one priority."
"I responded to dozens, literally dozens, of emergency calls on this road," he explained. "[It] is unnecessary that people should have to worry."
I'm asking for just a little bit more patience.- Steven Del Duca, former Minister of Transportation
In August of 2016, then-Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca toured the deadly stretch of Highway 3.
Afterwards he said "I get it. I've heard it loud and clear ... I'm asking for just a little bit more patience."
Here's what Nahim would say if had the chance to meet face-to-face with Ontario's current Transport Minister:
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