Accident cause stumps investigators
Police identify five victims
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
BRIDGEWATER — A woman, her father and their partners were killed when their motorcycles collided with a Ford Taurus on Sunday afternoon on Highway 103 near Mahone Bay. Also killed was a young mother whose baby boy was in the back seat of the car his grandmother was driving.
Dead are common-law partners Gary Clarence Robar, 58, and Ann Louise Lyons, 57, who were on one motorcycle. His daughter, Tanya Louise Robar, 34, and her boyfriend, Michael George Everett, 40, were on the second motorcycle. They were all from Lunenburg County.
Also killed was 22-year-old Raella Dean Haines of Halifax County, a passenger in the Ford Taurus. Her infant son, Jack, was treated in hospital for a broken leg and is now back home with his family. Ms. Haines’ mother was driving the Taurus and although her condition was upgraded to serious Monday, her injuries are still believed to be life-threatening.
RCMP spokesman Const. Grant Webber said police still don’t know what happened and have had experts reconstructing the series of events.
Greg Asling, who arrived at the scene several minutes after the crash, told The Canadian Press it was difficult to draw conclusions about what happened. The Ford, which had been travelling east toward Halifax, was in the ditch on the westbound side of the highway, he said.
"I can’t figure out how it happened," Mr. Asling told CP. "Nothing makes sense."
He said he saw several bodies on the ground and crisscrossing skid marks.
"It was very upsetting, very upsetting," he said in an interview. "It’s all so mysterious as to how it can happen."
The vehicles collided at about 1:20 p.m., just as a memorial service was getting underway in nearby Lunenburg to commemorate Motorcycle Awareness Month. Doug Beattie of the Christian Motorcyclist Association delivered the message.
"I talked about how you have to be prepared for anything that might happen," Mr. Beattie said Monday. "Even though you think you might be in control, sometimes it’s not in your control and we have to have our lives ready."
He said his words have taken on a note of stark reality, and four names will be added to the memorial list next year.
"Personally, I feel really, really bad that anything like this would happen," Mr. Beattie said.
Eddy Crossland was at that service and said while he is profoundly affected by what happened, he won’t think twice about swinging his leg over the back of his Honda Gold Wing and riding down the highway.
"Safety is something you think about all the time," Mr. Crossland said. "Something like this just raises your awareness even higher."
He said the motorcycle community in Nova Scotia is devastated by what happened.
"The biking community is really close. It’s a big family and something like this hurts all of us."
Mr. Crossland said his phone has been ringing off the hook from bikers across the province anxious to find out who the victims were and what happened.
"At some point, we are all touched by one another and somehow when one feels this hurt, we all feel it."
Nancy White, who has been riding motorcycles for more than 30 years, taught her two children how to drive and manages the Nova Scotia Safety Council’s motorcycle training program. She said she doesn’t worry about her children because they wear the proper gear and are well-trained, and she, too, will continue to enjoy her motorbike.
"I do not have any qualms about getting back on my bike."
She said that although she mentally prepares for each ride, "it’s a stress releaser. It’s the wind in your face, even though I have a full face mask. It’s the freedom, the smells. It’s driving along Waverley Road on a fall night smelling the dead leaves and smelling the wood stoves, thinking maybe it’s time to put the bike away for the winter."
Far more people are killed in car accidents than on motorcycles each year.
According to the provincial Transportation Department, 310 motor vehicle drivers and passengers were killed over the five-year span ending in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. Twenty-five motorcycle drivers and passengers were killed in that same time period.
Ms. White said she teaches bike riders to always be on the defensive.
"Be prepared to yield 100 per cent of the time because all you have is two wheels and nothing to protect you except your gear and your defensive driving techniques."
Mr. Crossland took a course from the safety council for advanced drivers seven years ago at the age of 48, even though he’s been getting on a bike since he was 16.
"They taught us to ride as if we’re invisible, to ride as if the drivers can’t see you," he said.
When he gets on his bike, Mr. Crossland said, he is carried to a quiet place where he feels free and calm.
"Either you like it or you don’t and if you enjoy it, you enjoy it well. It’s got a power over you."
Topic: Motorcycle community loses four (Read 1920 times)