Mixed emotions are what the family of Mark Lugli and his son Jacob from Dryden are feeling, after the sentencing of the truck driver who killed them was handed down on Tuesday.
You can never get closure out of a provincial court trial, said Peter Lugli, the brother and uncle to Mark and Jacob, who were killed in a head-on collision on July 21, 2019 on an un-twinned stretch of the Trans-Canada highway just west of the Ontario border.
“I think that the best thing that could be said about that was that this stage of the process was done,” Lugli said from his home in Seattle. “And we can move on.”
According to reports from multiple media outlets, Abhinav Abhinav, who drove the truck, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death under the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act and was given a $3,000 fine and a four-month driving ban, without any jail time, on Tuesday.
The media reports stated maximum penalties for the offence are $5,000, a five-year driving ban and a maximum of two years jail time, which the crown did not seek.
“It was a very difficult process to go through. A number of us attended [the sentencing] in person or virtually,” said Lugli. “And hearing the stories from Lynn, Mark’s widow, and the kids was basically heart-ripping stuff. As you can imagine.”
Lugli is relieved the Manitoba government has pledged to twin the stretch of the Trans-Canada after the family sent a letter to Premier Heather Stefanson. The family wanted something positive to come from the tragedy, he said.
The family has been told by the province that the project will be in its capital budget released later this year.
What’s next, said Lugli, is for Ontario to twin the section of the Trans-Canada in Northwestern Ontario.
"Any reasonable person who travels roads today know that governments need to focus on that infrastructure as a key vital link in the supply chain to bring it up to speed in the 21st century," he said.
Lugli added the focus should be on improving safety. He said he learned during the trial that transponders or black boxes aren’t required for trucks and that the federal government should consider making them mandatory.
He said people who drive the highway likely already check three or four times to see if the lane is clear ahead or behind but that they should check more.
"For goodness sake, look five or six times these days," said Lugli. "These roads are getting more perilous to drive everyday. So we’re hopeful that no family goes through what we’ve been going through and continuing to go through today."
