A third accident in as many months involving transport trucks on Nova Scotia’s Canso Causeway has truckers concerned for their safety. Truckers say not enough is being done to protect them from rolling over in high winds along the causeway, which connects Cape Breton to mainland Nova Scotia. “It’s a fairly dangerous stretch,” says one trucker. “The wind coming off the water and there are no warning signs to tell drivers about the wind.” Nova Scotia’s transportation minister says the causeway has been on the government’s agenda for a while and agrees something has to be done. “When we have trucks overturning on a very important stretch, it’s important we take a look and figure out what went wrong and try to figure out ways to fix these problems and address them to the extent possible,” says Nova Scotia Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Geoff MacLellan. The latest incident on the causeway happened Thursday night. Investigators say one truck was blown off course by a gust and wind and then sideswiped another truck. There were no injuries but traffic was reduced for several hours. Some truckers are concerned that drivers will take their chances and cross the causeway, no matter the weather. “Drivers don’t want to take the risk, but at the same time, they have a load that needs to cross and don’t want to stop, so, sometimes they take the risk,” says trucker Chris Carroll. “I think we should have warning signs to warn the drivers,” says another trucker. “I heard on the radio it is up to the driver’s discretion, but the driver doesn’t know the kind of winds that are down there that time of day.” MacLellan says those changes will come, he’s just not sure when. “Wind-monitoring equipment, where we can gage how strong the wind is and two-way message boards will be set up when we have capabilities to do so,” he says. With files from CTV Atlantic's Kyle Moore
