Afraid to get back in his cab: Taxi driver traumatized by fatal crash

He's reassured himself that it wasn't his fault, but taxi driver Jonathan Hardy of Corner Brook is still dealing with the terrible memories of a Feb. 19 crash near Humber Valley Resort that claimed the life of a young snowmobile driver.

Five days after the accident, he still couldn't make himself get behind the wheel of a car.

"I've been walking every day since it happened," said Hardy, who's been driving cab for 20 years.

He can't stop thinking about 21-year-old Justyn Pollard, who was driving the snowmobile that struck his van, head-on, causing injuries that led to his death.

Another man, 26, who was riding on the back of the snowmobile was hurt, but survived.

"I would like to talk to the family of the boy who died, knowing that this young fellow is the same age of my youngest son, and that really gets to me, you know," Hardy told the Corner Brook Morning Show.

'It came out of nowhere'

Hardy was driving the Birchy Cab passenger van at around 4 a.m. on that Sunday, bringing several people to Humber Valley Resort, near Corner Brook.

He was travelling along the access road, near the bridge that extends across the Humber River, when he saw lights coming toward him in his own lane.

"I hesitated a second," said Hardy. "Should I pull over, or go in the other lane? So I said, 'No, I'll play it safe.' I put on my brakes and pulled off to the [right-hand] side of the road, and I just stopped ... I didn't know anything else until I was struck."

Hardy estimated there were only five or six seconds from when he saw the lights, until when he felt the snowmobile hit the front of the van.

"It came out of nowhere," he said. "I didn't even know it was coming at me."

'I didn't know if they were dead or alive'

As Hardy tried to make sense of what was happening, he got out of the van and looked.

"I saw two people laid out on the road, I didn't know if they were dead or alive. It kind of put a scare in me, and that's when I started going into shock."

Hardy said the snowmobile driver had apparently flown over the top of the taxi, hitting the van's windshield before landing behind the vehicle.

His passenger had landed near the side of the van and had apparently broken his legs.

After emergency crews arrived, Hardy went to hospital for about four hours for tests and observation. He was fitted with a temporary neck brace and released.

Then, around suppertime, he got the news that the snowmobile driver had died.

"When I heard that, I just about dropped to my knees. I was thinking I was at fault, and then I started thinking everything through and I said, 'No, I couldn't have been at fault. I was stopped. I never hit the machine, the machine hit me.' I think I went back in shock again, I can't really recall."

'It could have been prevented'

Hardy said he's been driving since he was 17, and it's difficult to deal with the fact that the first collision he's ever been involved in had such a tragic outcome.

"Everybody is talking about it and it was really starting to get to me, knowing that this young fellow died and it could have been prevented, I'm sure."

Police have not said whether alcohol was a factor in the crash, but another taxi driver who arrived on the scene just after the collision said the two snowmobilers were not wearing helmets or winter coats.

Hardy said he has had trouble sleeping since the accident because of neck pains.

It's been helpful to talk with his girlfriend about what happened. He's also had some reassurance from the passengers who were with him that morning.

"I had a van load of people and they told me that what I did was the right thing. I pulled off to the side, I didn't cause anything. Everybody is saying I wasn't at fault."

Hardy said he'll probably go back to driving taxi, "but I'm in no rush."