Weekend street-racing crash disgusts mother of innocent victim in 2005 fatality

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This article was published 19/09/2023 (769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Linda Rudnicki was on her way to buy milk when she was killed in a crash blamed on street racing on a Sunday night in June 2005.

The tragedy left a family devastated and led to a crackdown on street racing and an increased police presence on Sunday cruise nights in Winnipeg.

“When that collision happened, they were warned. People in that part of the city complained about racing,” the 39-year-old victim’s mother, Ruth Rudnicki, said Tuesday.

“Why do they have to wait until someone is killed to make laws to prevent this from happening again?”

Memories of the crash were evoked by a serious collision Sunday, allegedly caused by street racers on the same busy stretch of Portage Avenue. Two people were injured.

Ruth Rudnicki was both disappointed and concerned after learning about Sunday’s incident. Some of the circumstances were similar to the crash that claimed her daughter’s life.

Rudnicki was turning north from the eastbound lane of Portage onto Wallasey Street in St. James, when a Chevrolet Camaro hit the passenger side of her Chevrolet Impala.

A court heard the drivers of the Camaro and two Ford Mustangs were racing at high speed.

It was the third fatal collision on Portage in a span of 13 months linked to street racing, the Free Press reported at the time.

In 2007, Camaro driver Scott Trembley, then 24, was convicted of dangerous driving causing death. He was acquitted of a more serious charge of criminal negligence causing death.

Trembley had tried to blame the crash on the victim, who the court heard did not have a driver’s licence at the time.

His sentence of two years less a day was reduced to 12 months upon appeal, according to the online Court of King’s Bench registry.

A 22-year-old driver of one of the Mustangs was charged with imprudent driving. The other Mustang driver was never found, the trial was told.

At a sentencing hearing, Justice Karen Simonsen said she wasn’t blaming Sunday cruise night, which was happening at the time of the fatal crash.

Ruth Rudnicki, who keeps a photo of her daughter in her bedroom, said she didn’t attend court proceedings because she was too devastated and angry.

“Why do they have to wait until someone is killed to make laws to prevent this from happening again?”–Ruth Rudnicki

She said her daughter, who had Crohn’s disease, was happy and had a new lease on life after spending six months in hospital shortly before her death.

“We still miss her and we still pray for her,” she said,

She’s saddened that people continue to race in the streets.

“These stupid kids that just think it’s a lot of fun,” she said.

In Sunday night’s collision, a Honda Civic was turning north onto Sturgeon Road from Portage’s eastbound lanes, when it was struck by a westbound Civic, said police.

The drivers of the westbound Civic and a Volkswagen GTI were racing, police allege. The speed limit is 60 km/h.

The drivers were charged with racing and careless driving under the provincial Highway Traffic Act. Their vehicles were impounded.

Spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen has said the Winnipeg Police Service doesn’t take issue with cruise nights, but with a small percentage of drivers who use it as an excuse to drive recklessly.

It would be up to the WPS executive to determine whether changes to traffic enforcement are necessary, he said.

Held on Sundays from spring to fall, weekly cruise nights attract owners and fellow enthusiasts of classic and custom cars.

The crashes Sunday and in 2005 occurred about a kilometre apart on a stretch of Portage where residents have long complained about noise and dangerous driving, including speeding and racing.

“These stupid kids that just think it’s a lot of fun.”–Ruth Rudnicki

St. James Coun. Shawn Dobson said his office receives complaints about speeding and racing happening on Portage on all days of the week.

He said he would welcome additional traffic enforcement and more photo-radar cameras, alongside efforts to convince some people not to speed or race.

“We have to make our streets safer,” he said.

Portage Avenue is one of the cruise night areas monitored by police.

“They do issue a lot of tickets for various things, some of them speeding,” said Dobson.

In 2020, Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) raised concerns about speeding and racing on roads in her ward, including Kenaston Boulevard, on any given day. It led to a police crackdown, she said.

“I still have a problem, but it’s nowhere near the extreme that it was,” the deputy mayor said.

At that time, residents from across the city complained to Lukes about speeding or racing on routes such as Lagimodiere Boulevard and Chief Peguis Trail on any given day.

Due to limited human resources, Lukes is a proponent of using technology, including photo-radar cameras, to enforce speed laws.

“Speed kills, and we have to do all we can” to make roads safer, she said.

Rudnicki’s death led to a number of proposals aimed at curbing street racing and penalizing offenders.

In 2014, Manitoba introduced an immediate seven-day licence suspension, and it gave police the authority to seize and impound a vehicle for seven days, up from 48 hours.

The federal government made street racing a specific criminal offence in 2006, following multiple deaths across Canada.

The maximum penalty for criminal negligence causing death while street racing is life in prison.

All perils insurance coverage and third-party liability coverage may be refused if the damage or loss occurred while a vehicle was involved in a race, said Manitoba Public Insurance spokeswoman Kristy Rydz.

Benefits may be reduced if an injured claimant is charged and convicted of a street-racing offence, she said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching