By Faiza Wasim, Canwest News Service April 15, 2010 6:02 PM

OTTAWA — Standing next to a mother who lost her daughter in a horrific traffic accident, a Newfoundland MP on Thursday introduced a private member’s bill meant to make heavy trucks safer.

Liberal Siobhan Coady’s Bill C-512 would amend the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to ensure that all vehicles in higher weight categories that are manufactured or imported to Canada would be equipped with side guards to keep people from slipping beneath them.

The bill has a deeply personal meaning for the parents of Jessica Holman-Price, 21, who was killed more than four years ago in Montreal.

“On Dec. 19, 2005, our lives changed forever when our kids were standing on a snowbank at a busy intersection waiting to cross the street,” said Jeanette Holman-Price, Jessica’s mother, told a news conference on Parliament Hill.

That day, when the light turned green, a snow-removal truck came around the corner and caught the edge of the mound, causing Jessica’s 10-year-old brother, Peter-Luc, to slide under the vehicle.

Jessica reached for him but she too lost her footing and slid under the wheels of the truck. In a split second, she managed to push her brother out of harm’s way before the truck killed her. Jessica was posthumously awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery.

The Jessica Campaign was started by the family, with the goal of improving road safety by fitting side guards — also known as under-run protection devices — to large vehicles.

It’s hoped that requiring side guards will prevent pedestrians and cyclists from falling under such vehicles.

Coady said she has met with Jessica’s mother a number of times to learn more about the issue and to develop solutions.

“Our campaign began the moment we saw the truck which killed our daughter didn’t have side-guard protection,” said Holman-Price.

“If side guards were on that truck, we wouldn’t be here today. Having lived and travelled through Europe and Australia, we assumed side guards were standard equipment in Canada. Today, we are grateful for the support of the Canadian public and understanding from across political parties and jurisdictions. The inevitability of safer roads, through Jessica’s memory and this Bill introduced by Siobhan Coady, will save other families from sharing our family’s tragedy.”

A study by the Transportation Safety Association of Canada found that improved frontal and side truck design cuts pedestrian fatalities the 20 per cent. As well, the severity of injuries is decreased by 25 per cent.

Legislation mandates under-run protection devices in the European Union and Australia, among others, but no such laws exist at the national level in Canada.

At the provincial level, Newfoundland and Labrador is installing side guards on its new fleet of snow-removal equipment.

Also speaking at the news conference was Shirley Johnson of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, whose son suffered a brain injury in a similar accident.

“Brain injuries are forever,” said Johnson. “Any bill that could save lives is worth promoting.”

Talking about her son, Holman-Price said he has a Mensa-level IQ and can speak three languages English, French and Norwegian but that he is now failing junior high school because his learning abilities have been severely affected as a result of a brain injury he sustained during the accident.

Email this letter to your MP and the Minister of Health! (Copy and paste it into your emails)
You can find your Member of Parliament’s email address.
The Minister of Health’s e-mail is Aglukkaq.L@parl.gc.ca
The Prime Minister’s e-mail is Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
Dear [Member of Parliament]:

As a concerned citizen, I urge you to support minimum standards for sport helmets, and in particular to help pass Bill C-289, a private member’s bill introduced by Dr. Hedy Fry.

The leading killer and disabler of youth in Canada is preventable injury. Many serious and fatal injuries are sport-related head injuries. A quality sport helmet is a proven way of helping to prevent injury in sport. Studies show that effective helmets can prevent up to 85% of sport-related deaths. Helmets are also exceptionally cost-effective: a major US study has shown that for every $1 spent on helmets, $29 is saved in health, productivity, and other costs of injury.

The Canadian government has committed to increasing physical activity in Canada by 10% in anticipation of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It follows that a similar increase in safe sport practices, such as wearing helmets, is necessary to ensure the health, social and economic outcomes associated with sport and physical activity are not erased by an increase in injury.

Effective helmets reduce the risk of serious brain injury or death to youth and adults alike. However, there are currently no minimum standards in place to ensure that the helmets Canadians use are safe and effective.

Presently the Hazardous Product Act provides the authority needed to ensure all helmets in Canada are effective enough to save lives.

The Hazardous Products Act includes a list of “prohibited products” which may not be advertised, sold or imported. Hockey helmets have been classified under federal hazardous product legislation, and as such, this legislation requires all hockey helmets sold in Canada to be approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).

All sport helmets should be treated as hockey helmets are. If a helmet is not effective enough to pass CSA standards, it has no place on Canadian shelves. Bill C-289 begins this process by placing ski and snowboard helmets on the Hazardous Products list alongside hockey helmets.

Youth and adults across Canada see Bill C-289 as good for their health. I ask you to do all you can to ensure that all helmets meet minimum standards, so that we may prevent death and disability among Canadians.

Sincerely,

Read the Press Release outlining the importance of this Bill