FRIDAY
August 23, 1996

LO'N'S DALE. OUAY MARKET!
Free Concerts at the Quay!
Sundays & Holidays
2:00 pm_-;4:00 pm

|. Van cyclist rides
low, painful road to
recovery of health

y Robert Galster

ontributing Writer

<EVIN Townsend is lucky to
e:alive.

- On Jan. 8, Townsend, as per his usual rou-

e, was cycling to work in the downtown
re. The then 33-year-old postal employee

Rad made the trip from his North Vancouver
ome hundreds of times. The ride this time
ould change his life.

° He completed what most would consider
1¢ most hazardous portion of the trip ~ the
ions Gate’ Bridge. Townsend was in the
me stretch. The straightaway cast on
corgia Street toward the Hamilton cross-
cet contines of the Canada Post building.
isaster struck near the Giltord Street inter-
ction.

A car, described only as a Japanese model
uur-edoor sedan, rear-ended him. The force

Mf the impact hurled Kevin into a fire hydrant
liom which he bounced into a power pole
id. then ‘a mailbox,

His bruised and battered body came to
st face down on the sidewalk.

@ Now, more than eight months after the
cident, Kevin's life is slowly returning to
rmal. Although he declined to be inter-
lewed for this story, his wife Barb recounted
¢ fateful day.

. “That evening it was just a regular routine.
kissed him good bye, told him to be care

ful,” she said.

It was part of their nightly routine that
Kevin would call Barb upon his arrival at the
post office. That night he never called.

“By 10 after (midnight) I was starting to
get worried,” recalled Barb.

A co-worker of Kevin’s, Jedd Derry shared
the same route, although Derry opted for
public transit during the winter. It was a habit
of Derry’s to wave to Kevin as the bus passed
him en route to their common destination.

That night, remembers Derry, the bus
passed Kevin shortly after the accident
occurred. Derry recognized Kevin's helmet,
resting awkwardly on the wet sidewalk —
obviously the scene of an accident. He imme-
diately stopped the bus and came to Kevin's
assistance.

“One of the reasons 1 didn’t ride in the
winter is because of the poor visibility,” said
Derry. “However, Kevin was extremely visible
.. even the bus driver commented, ‘I don’t
know how anybody hit him, he was so visi-
ble’.”

After calling 9-1-1, Derry called ahead to
the office where someone called Barb, Kevin
was taken to St. Paul’s Hospital.

Barb immediately set out for the hospital,
On the way, she passed the scene of the acci-
dent where flares lit up the scene.

“IT was basically there for the next five
weeks, the first three days straight,” said Barb,
“When I gor there, his jaw was hanging ...
kept saying, ‘His jaw is bothering him,’ but
they couldn’: do anvthing to it because they
were busy with other things — Jife-threaten-
ing things.”

Although his recovery, to date, has been a
slow and paintul one, it still is not complete.

See Tips page 3

WEATHER

Saturday: Sunny
High 28'C, low 9-14°C.

-” NEWS photo Pau! McGrath

THE need to identify the driver that hit Kevin Townsend's bicycle and left him
fighting for his life last January continues to plague him and his wife, Barb.

eath truck had history of mechanical trouble -

Shaun Conlin
ontributing Writer

former truck driver for Marr Contractors
Mold an inquest jury Wednesday that he was
Pressured to drive an unsafe vehicle.
Coroner Larry Campbell is examining the deaths of two
en who died on Aug. 16 last year when a semi-trailer truck
ar our of control on the steep Cut section of Highway 1.
Truck ‘driver Baljinder Singh, 37, and Wayde Police, 34,
ed in the six-vehicle crash.
Mm Beginning in November of 1994 and ending one month
Rior to the tragic crash Dan Legros stated that he was, to the
Best of his. knowledge, the sole operator of the Western Star

Bactor-truck, © .
He said the truck often had mechanical problems,

“Pd mention a problem to my boss,” the French Canadian
explained in broken English, “and if there was time or when
there was time, it gets tixed. But if there was no time... we
had to work.”

He felt his job was or would be on the line if he spent too
much dime on his mandatory pre-trip inspection of the truck.
Likewise, if be complained about noisy brakes which “made a
lot of noise, like metal on metal,” he was concerned about
keeping bis job.

“There's a dot of people out there looking for work and I
can be replaced.”

When asked if he could cite any other problems with the
truck, Legros stated: “Near the last days of ny employment the
Jake brake (the engine retarder which facilitates deceleration)
was not reliable. 1 complained to Mario Battison, owner of
Marr Contractors and he said ‘that’s just from sand under the
throule.’ But [cleaned that out and it (the fake brake) still

only worked when it wanted to. They never fixed it.”

Reealling another episode with the Western Star truck dur-
ing which the year shift lever broke off aca previously-welded
spot, Legros noted that“... Thad to drive back in second gear,
down the Cat and... with the weight of the truck and the
weight of the trailer .. T burned out the clutch.”

Admitting that his pre-trip duties were often: neglected and
that he didn’t, at the ime, understand the hazardous nature of
the slack adjuster (a part of the air-brake assembly) hitting the
truck’s axle, Legros often repeated “Pm nota mechanic, Mm
just a driver,” and finally claritied by saying, “lavish Md had bet-
ter training, because the problems could have been rectified.”

Legros was laid-off from Marr Contractors on July 13,
1995, the same day he told bis bess “Twas fed up. He said he'd
have someone in to fix it (the truck) and then called me later

See Truck page 3