Motorcyclists' memorial ride commemorates father killed in Anthony Henday crash
About 60 motorcyclists rode together through Edmonton on Father's Day in remembrance of a father killed earlier this month after hitting a deer on Anthony Henday Drive.
The group gathered at Edmonton's city hall on Sunday morning and began the memorial ride shortly after 11 a.m. The route wove through downtown streets, ran along the river valley and included a roadside stop beside the Henday, where the riders held a moment of silence and prayed.
Marc-Andre Helie, 36, died on June 9 after the motorcycle he was riding hit a deer. Police said at the time that the collision happened at about 1:30 a.m. Helie died in hospital, after sustaining serious injuries from the crash.
Helie and Stephanie Stuetz, 28, had three young children — one boy and two girls.
Stuetz also died in a crash on the Henday, on October 7, 2017.
"No family should have to go through that kind of trauma," said Cory Bacon, who organized the memorial ride.
He said the family was touched by the gesture but not able to attend the event.
'He was such a great guy'
Many of the riders who came to pay their respects had never met Helie.
"They missed a heck of an opportunity because he was such a great guy," said Cory Duncan, one of Helie's friends and colleagues.
Duncan said Helie was a loving father and hard worker who believed in riding responsibly.
"Everybody that knew him has been affected pretty deeply by this," he said.
New program aims to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions
According to the Alberta government, five people die and more than 300 people are injured in wildlife-vehicle collisions in Alberta every year.
A new project with the aim of reducing the number of collisions now tracks where they occur.
Under the new Alberta Wildlife Watch Program, government workers and contractors can use a mobile app to report animal sightings and carcasses on highways. Those reports could help identify dangerous locations or opportunities for road design changes.
