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Victim of nightmarish Queensway crash remembered for his inspirational attitude
ANDREW DUFFY, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Published on: January 7, 2016 | Last Updated: January 7, 2016 11:28 PM EST
Derek Gregan, 46, of Ottawa was killed Wednesday morning, January 6, 2016 when his car, travelling on the northbound ramp from Highway 416 to the westbound Highway 417, went over the barrier and plunged to the eastbound lanes of Highway 417 below. BARRHAVEN TOASTMASTERS
At the weekly meetings of the Barrhaven Toastmasters Club, Derek Gregan could always be counted on to fill the period set aside for telling jokes.
“He would always pick up the slot to tell jokes to liven things up,” said Rattan Muradia, who knew him from the club. “Always encouraging new members, those who were shy … he was always there to help them, never shy to take on any leadership roles.”
Gregan 46, died in a nightmarish crash on Wednesday when his car plunged from an overpass on the northbound Highway 416, falling to the shoulder of Highway 417 below.
Muradia added in an email that Gregan’s “positive attitude, infectious smile, and zest for life was an inspiration for the rest of us.”
The group was confused Wednesday night, Muradia said, when Gregan didn’t arrive, and when they discovered what happened, they were “in shock about his untimely and tragic death.”
“He could light up a room just by his presence,” Muradia said.
Muradia had been working in schools with shy kids who had trouble speaking up in class, and Gregan was planning to help out. They had planned to start in February.
“I was just waiting for his phone call,” Muradia said.
Bill Bishop — who worked with Gregan at Innovapost, an IT provider for Canada Post — knew Gregan for more than a decade and considered him a dear friend.
“He was just what you would call one of the good guys,” said Bishop. “I never saw him speak ill or get angry at anybody. He was just so laid-back and patient that way. And someone who was without a lot of pretence.”
Bishop said he and Gregan were “kindred spirits” who moved to Ottawa at separate times from Nova Scotia and worked for Nortel together in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
Bishop said Gregan, a software engineer, grew up in Cape Breton and studied at Dalhousie University, and was a “avid soccer player” who coached one of his daughter’s teams last summer.
Gregan is survived by his wife, Eileen Suzuki, and his two daughters. Bishop said Suzuki’s parents, who live in Japan, are flying out to attend the funeral.
On Thursday, snowbanks were removed from the overpass that connects Highway 416 to the Queensway, and Ontario Provincial Police were continuing to investigate the crash.
Gregan appeared to have lost control of his car as he drove northbound on Highway 416 during Wednesday’s morning rush hour. His car is believed to have mounted the snowbank and plunged from the overpass, landing on its roof. Gregan was declared dead at the scene.
OPP Const. Rhéal Levac said Thursday that investigators continued to interview witnesses and were trying to reconstruct the crash.
“We’re still piecing everything together,” said Levac, who refused to speculate on the roles played by either speed, or the snowbank. “We need to get all the information we can before we can provide a better picture of what occurred.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said snow clearing crews focused their operations early Wednesday on salting highways and ramps to combat a morning frost.
“Our contractor has since returned to removing snow from the ramp shoulders,” said the ministry’s Rebecca Veaudry.
The snowbanks were removed from the overpass by about 2 p.m. Thursday.
Under terms of its performance-based contract, the company responsible for maintaining Ottawa-area highways must restore bare pavement within eight hours of a winter storm’s end.
After that, Veaudry said, the contractor is to “work continuously” to remove snow piled on highway shoulders and ramps. but “this removal work may be interrupted by another storm or the need to complete salting operations to prevent slippery conditions.”
In April, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk slammed the provincial government for contracting out winter highway maintenance. Ever since that move in 2009, Lysyk said, the overriding criterion for awarding contracts has been price, which means that private firms have been forced to minimize the number of plows, and the amount of salt, sand and anti-icing liquid used on Ontario highways.
“While the change has been successful in reducing and containing winter highway maintenance expenditures, it has done so at the cost of Ontario’s roads not being as well-maintained in the winter as they used to be,” she concluded in her special report.
In the Ottawa and Kingston area, the number of plows operating on highways has fallen from 40 to 26; the number of trucks capable of spreading salt and sand has also gone down.
The province’s performance target requires contractors to meet its eight-hour bare pavement standard for 90 per cent of winter storms. Firms that don’t meet that target are fined. (The contractor responsible for Ottawa area roads reached the bare pavement standard 91 per cent of the time during the difficult winter of 2013-14.)
In response to the auditor general’s report, the province has added $5 million to its annual winter road maintenance budget.
ANDREW DUFFY, OTTAWA CITIZENPublished on: January 7, 2016 | Last Updated: January 7, 2016 11:28 PM EST
Derek Gregan, 46, of Ottawa was killed Wednesday morning, January 6, 2016 when his car, travelling on the northbound ramp from Highway 416 to the westbound Highway 417, went over the barrier and plunged to the eastbound lanes of Highway 417 below. BARRHAVEN TOASTMASTERS
At the weekly meetings of the Barrhaven Toastmasters Club, Derek Gregan could always be counted on to fill the period set aside for telling jokes.
“He would always pick up the slot to tell jokes to liven things up,” said Rattan Muradia, who knew him from the club. “Always encouraging new members, those who were shy … he was always there to help them, never shy to take on any leadership roles.”
Gregan 46, died in a nightmarish crash on Wednesday when his car plunged from an overpass on the northbound Highway 416, falling to the shoulder of Highway 417 below.
Muradia added in an email that Gregan’s “positive attitude, infectious smile, and zest for life was an inspiration for the rest of us.”
The group was confused Wednesday night, Muradia said, when Gregan didn’t arrive, and when they discovered what happened, they were “in shock about his untimely and tragic death.”
“He could light up a room just by his presence,” Muradia said.
Muradia had been working in schools with shy kids who had trouble speaking up in class, and Gregan was planning to help out. They had planned to start in February.
“I was just waiting for his phone call,” Muradia said.
Bill Bishop — who worked with Gregan at Innovapost, an IT provider for Canada Post — knew Gregan for more than a decade and considered him a dear friend.
“He was just what you would call one of the good guys,” said Bishop. “I never saw him speak ill or get angry at anybody. He was just so laid-back and patient that way. And someone who was without a lot of pretence.”
Bishop said he and Gregan were “kindred spirits” who moved to Ottawa at separate times from Nova Scotia and worked for Nortel together in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
Bishop said Gregan, a software engineer, grew up in Cape Breton and studied at Dalhousie University, and was a “avid soccer player” who coached one of his daughter’s teams last summer.
Gregan is survived by his wife, Eileen Suzuki, and his two daughters. Bishop said Suzuki’s parents, who live in Japan, are flying out to attend the funeral.
On Thursday, snowbanks were removed from the overpass that connects Highway 416 to the Queensway, and Ontario Provincial Police were continuing to investigate the crash.
Gregan appeared to have lost control of his car as he drove northbound on Highway 416 during Wednesday’s morning rush hour. His car is believed to have mounted the snowbank and plunged from the overpass, landing on its roof. Gregan was declared dead at the scene.
OPP Const. Rhéal Levac said Thursday that investigators continued to interview witnesses and were trying to reconstruct the crash.
“We’re still piecing everything together,” said Levac, who refused to speculate on the roles played by either speed, or the snowbank. “We need to get all the information we can before we can provide a better picture of what occurred.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said snow clearing crews focused their operations early Wednesday on salting highways and ramps to combat a morning frost.
“Our contractor has since returned to removing snow from the ramp shoulders,” said the ministry’s Rebecca Veaudry.
The snowbanks were removed from the overpass by about 2 p.m. Thursday.
Under terms of its performance-based contract, the company responsible for maintaining Ottawa-area highways must restore bare pavement within eight hours of a winter storm’s end.
After that, Veaudry said, the contractor is to “work continuously” to remove snow piled on highway shoulders and ramps. but “this removal work may be interrupted by another storm or the need to complete salting operations to prevent slippery conditions.”
In April, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk slammed the provincial government for contracting out winter highway maintenance. Ever since that move in 2009, Lysyk said, the overriding criterion for awarding contracts has been price, which means that private firms have been forced to minimize the number of plows, and the amount of salt, sand and anti-icing liquid used on Ontario highways.
“While the change has been successful in reducing and containing winter highway maintenance expenditures, it has done so at the cost of Ontario’s roads not being as well-maintained in the winter as they used to be,” she concluded in her special report.
In the Ottawa and Kingston area, the number of plows operating on highways has fallen from 40 to 26; the number of trucks capable of spreading salt and sand has also gone down.
The province’s performance target requires contractors to meet its eight-hour bare pavement standard for 90 per cent of winter storms. Firms that don’t meet that target are fined. (The contractor responsible for Ottawa area roads reached the bare pavement standard 91 per cent of the time during the difficult winter of 2013-14.)
In response to the auditor general’s report, the province has added $5 million to its annual winter road maintenance budget.
