P.E.I. woman fighting for changes to laws after husband killed in car accident
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Tanya Wedlock vows to struggle to vary 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., mentioned the final second the couple spent collectively is seared in her thoughts.
“He gave me a kiss, mentioned he beloved me, like he did every single day and walked out the door,” Wedlock mentioned as tears streamed down her face in an interview with SaltWire on Might 11. “I can see him in the whole lot. I can really feel him. Typically I’ve hassle believing that he’s not right here. If I might help make some modifications, 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.’’
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 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 loss of life. They imagine Jom has fled the nation and issued a warrant for her arrest on Might 10, 2023.
Chris Wedlock was on his method to work at Raspberry Level Oysters in Cavendish when the accident occurred.
Wedlock mentioned the RCMP informed her Chris swerved unsuccessfully and the 2 autos collided head-on.
Wedlock touches Chris’s wedding ceremony band that she wears on a necklace and a separate pendant with a few of his ashes inside as she remembers what RCMP informed her about that morning.
“He was alive and speaking to first responders and he was attempting to get out of the automobile,” she mentioned. “The fireplace division arrived first after which the ambulance arrived and eliminated him from the automobile. It was then he went into cardiac arrest, they usually 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 quickly, 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 mentioned. “Ten minutes into the drive my mother referred to as me and mentioned the police got here again and mentioned … Chris was gone. We continued into the hospital, and I spent a while with (Chris).’’
Legislative modifications
Wedlock, 46, is set to forestall the circumstances surrounding her husband’s loss of life from taking place to anybody else.
She is working with Brad Trivers, her MLA (Member of the Legislative Meeting), to amend motorized vehicle legal guidelines and rules. She needs modifications, resembling growing 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.
Trivers informed SaltWire in a phone interview on Might 15 that he will probably 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 dialogue on potential modifications.
Not one of the allegations in opposition to Jom have been confirmed in courtroom.
Devastated
Wedlock mentioned 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 mentioned, choking again her phrases. “He was a father and a son and a husband and the whole lot to his household and buddies 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 school, she is going to lose another person. She was so near him,” Wedlock mentioned.
Keagan, in the meantime, listens to Chris’s music and wears his father’s garments to really feel nearer to his dad.
Maria Terstege, Wedlock’s finest good friend, informed SaltWire it’s heartbreaking to look at Wedlock in a lot ache each day.
“I am going to see her each morning and she or he is simply sitting there and that’s how she begins her day and the way she falls asleep,” mentioned Terstege. “No household ought to need to undergo this.”
Linda Jackson, Tanya Wedlocks’s mom, mentioned everybody continues to be struggling to cope with the loss.
“I simply miss him a lot,” Jackson mentioned, unable to take care of her composure.
Wedlock mentioned she is going to by no means hand over on maintaining Chris’s reminiscence alive and looking for justice for his loss of life.
“I’ve by no means felt so weak as I’ve for the reason that accident,” Wedlock mentioned. “I’ll by no means cease preventing so long as I’ve breath.”
Dave Stewart is a reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He could be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @DveStewart
