Flagger’s Death Brings Jail for Driver

A 29-year-old man who made a terrible decision after drinking will have almost two years in jail to think about the consequences of his actions. Raymond Shaw of Kelowna, BC, was the driver of a vehicle that sped through a highway construction zone and struck a flag woman so violently that her body flew and snapped off the top of a tree. She had been holding a “slow” sign.

The victim of the March 27, 2006 incident was Theresa Newman, a single mother of four children. Shaw, whose blood-alcohol readings were in the .14 percent range (.08 percent is the legal limit), was also ordered to spend 100 hours talking to young people about the carnage that drinking and driving can bring.

Not long before his vehicle struck Newman and then crashed into a parked dump truck, Shaw had been ejected from a pub following a scuffle. Witnesses said he was speeding down the highway before the crash.

Shaw has shown extreme remorse and has been described as suicidal since the incident. Share this story with your workers. It’s never worth it to drink and drive. If you don’t have the self-discipline to leave a vehicle parked after drinking, don’t bring one in the first place.