Go green: Cowichan Bio-diesel Co-op gets the valley pumping On stage: Little old ladies on murderous rampage in Duncan
page 12 page 19
For all the news of the Cowichan region as it happens, plus stories from around British Columbia, go to our website www.cowichannewsleader.com Your news leader since 1905
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Answers hard to come by in freak rock-toss fatality Highway 18 death: Can future tragedy be averted? Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
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Peter W. Rusland
GrifÄn Dowker, 3, with dad Richard’s cap after Nov. 11 services at Cobble Hill’s cenotaph. For more on the weekend’s Remembrance Day, see page three.
amily, friends and coworkers were mourning last week’s death of Duncan’s Gregory Thomas Howlett while hoping better trucking safety prevents another traf¿c tragedy. “We’d appreciate if something comes to light that can be done so this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” said Tina Brooks, operations manager of Nanaimo’s Island West Coast Developments Ltd. That’s where popular Howlett, 52, was a construction-site supervisor before being killed Nov. 7. He was driving a company pickup when the windshield was hit by a large rock tossed by an oncoming logging truck on Lake Cowichan Highway 18. Finding rocks, and other dangerous debris, is the duty of truckers, companies and all road users, explained Kate Trotter of B.C.’s transport ministry. “It’s the responsibility of all road users — from logging-truck operators to cyclists — to ensure their vehicles are roadworthy, and that they are abiding by regulations. “Logging truck safety is the shared responsibility of operators and companies, in keeping with regulations and best practices.” The Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement program of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and lawenforcement agencies enforce cargo securement, she noted. “CVSE undertakes inspections in road-side inspection blitzes and random checks and by
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working with industry to educate operators.” Meanwhile, folks at Island West Coast Developments were coping with the loss of eightyear colleague Howlett. “We all know the family man he was, and we all enjoyed how Greg was,” Brooks said. “Greg had a great sense of humour. He was an extremely hard worker, and extremely good at what he did. He’ll be missed,” she said of the water skiing father of two daughters. “He was always concerned about his employees and made sure they had the right tools to get the job done,” Howlett’s Times Colonist obituary reads. “Greg will be remembered for being selÀess and putting others’ needs ¿rst. He always found a way to make things better; his humour and his smile would light up your day.” Coroner Honey Forbes has stated it was miraculous Howlett’s wife — identi¿ed as Joanne in the Times Colonist obit — gained control of the pickup, and brought it to a stop after Howlett was hit behind the wheel at around 9:30 a.m. Nov. 7. Trotter also referred to Canadian Forest Products’ regulations governing load tie-downs, records of checks, plus other precautions. But those company rules don’t appear to include looking for debris, such as rocks and bark, that can get caught in a rig’s dual tires, then be spit into traf¿c. Those hazards worried Dwight Yochim of the Truck Loggers Association. more on page 8