A grieving mother is calling for a divided highway across the island to help reduce the number of head-on collisions.

Laura Jesso’s son Corporal Andrew Jesso was a member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

He was just 20 years old when his vehicle collided head-on with another on the Trans Canada Highway near Springdale in June of 2022.

A 64-year-old man also died in the crash.

Laura Jesso spoke at a ceremony this morning at Confederation Building marking the World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims. She says a divided highway could help save lives.

“One of the things that I would love to see, that we desperately need” says Jesso “is we do need divided highways on our Trans Canada Highway.” She says accidents are far too frequent and “I am honestly terrified to get on the highway.”

Eighteen fatalities in 4,000 crashes so far this year

The department says as of November 1st, nearly 4,000 collision were been reported in the province in 2024. There were 18 fatalities, and more than 1,200 people were seriously injured.

The provincial government is extending the divided highway to two more sections of the TCH. They include about 15 km between Grand Falls-Windsor and Bishop’s Falls and 40 km starting at Whitbourne and heading west.