Coping with loss: P.E.I. woman fighting for changes to laws after husband killed in car accident
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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Tanya Wedlock vows to struggle to alter visitors legal guidelines in P.E.I. after her husband was killed in a automobile accident in October 2022.
Wedlock, of New Glasgow, P.E.I., stated the final second the couple spent collectively is seared in her thoughts.
“He gave me a kiss, stated he liked me, like he did on daily basis and walked out the door,” Wedlock stated as tears streamed down her face in an interview with SaltWire on Could 11.
“I can see him in every thing. I can really feel him. Typically I’ve hassle believing that he’s not right here. If I may help make some adjustments, not simply to save lots of one other life however to save lots of a number of lives of those that are impacted by loss, I’ll.”
The accident
On Oct. 21 round 7 a.m., first responders have been referred to as to a collision between a automobile and an SUV on Route 224 in close by Hope River. Chris Wedlock, 47, the driving force and sole occupant of the automobile died on the scene.
RCMP recognized Priyanka Jom as the only real occupant of the SUV. The 27-year-old Charlottetown girl was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with non-life-threatening accidents. Police have charged Jom with harmful driving inflicting dying. They consider Jom has fled the nation and issued a warrant for her arrest on Could 10, 2023.
Chris Wedlock was on his approach to work at Raspberry Level Oysters in Cavendish when the accident occurred.
Wedlock stated the RCMP advised her Chris swerved unsuccessfully and the 2 automobiles collided head-on.
“I can see him in every thing. I can really feel him. Typically I’ve hassle believing that he’s not right here.” – Tanya Wedlock
Wedlock touches Chris’ marriage ceremony band that she wears on a necklace and a separate pendant with a few of his ashes inside as she remembers what RCMP advised her about that morning.
“He was alive and speaking to first responders and he was making an attempt to get out of the automobile,” she stated. “The hearth division arrived first after which the ambulance arrived and eliminated him from the automobile. It was then he went into cardiac arrest, and so they couldn’t carry him again. It’s actually arduous to know he knew it was coming and that he was alive for a couple of minutes after.”
The Mounties got here to her mother and father’ door, the place the Wedlocks had been staying briefly, that morning to say that Chris had been in an accident and that Tanya ought to go to the hospital in Charlottetown.
“Dad took me into the hospital,” Wedlock stated. “Ten minutes into the drive my mother referred to as me and stated the police got here again and stated … Chris was gone. We continued into the hospital, and I spent a while with (Chris).”
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Legislative adjustments
Wedlock, 46, is decided to stop the circumstances surrounding her husband’s dying from occurring to anybody else.
She is working with MLA Brad Trivers to amend motorcar legal guidelines and rules. She desires adjustments, equivalent to creating a tiered system for penalties drivers face relying on the severity of the end result of an accident, making sleep-impaired driving unlawful and seizing an individual’s journey paperwork till officers have accomplished the investigation into an accident.
“If I may help make some adjustments, not simply to save lots of one other life however to save lots of a number of lives of those that are impacted by loss, I’ll.” – Tanya Wedlock
Trivers advised SaltWire in a phone interview on Could 15 that he might be asking questions within the legislature associated to the accident and has already written Justice Minister Bloyce Thompson and Transportation Minister Ernie Hudson asking for a dialogue on potential adjustments.
Not one of the allegations towards Jom have been confirmed in courtroom.
Devastated
Wedlock stated the accident had left her and their three youngsters – Kegan, Ethan and Abby – damaged.
“I simply need folks to know he was a lot,” she stated, choking again her phrases. “He was a father and a son and a husband and every thing to his household and mates and colleagues.”
Abby was accepted right into a music theatre program in Ontario however cancelled these plans after the accident.
“She is terrified if she goes away to college, she’s going to lose another person. She was so near him,” Wedlock stated.
Keagan, in the meantime, listens to Chris’ music and wears his father’s garments to really feel nearer to his dad.
‘No household ought to should undergo this’
Maria Terstege, Wedlock’s greatest buddy, advised SaltWire it’s heartbreaking to look at Wedlock in a lot ache each day.
“I’m going to see her each morning and he or she is simply sitting there and that’s how she begins her day and the way she falls asleep,” stated Terstege. “No household ought to should undergo this.”
Linda Jackson, Tanya Wedlocks’s mom, stated everybody remains to be struggling to cope with the loss.
“I simply miss him a lot,” Jackson stated, unable to take care of her composure.
Wedlock stated she’s going to by no means surrender on retaining Chris’ reminiscence alive and searching for justice for his dying.
“I’ve by no means felt so weak as I’ve for the reason that accident,” Wedlock stated. “I’ll by no means cease preventing so long as I’ve breath.”
Dave Stewart is a well being reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He could be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @DveStewart.