Roller Coaster Road

The Roller Coaster Road- Highway 103 along Nova Scotia’s Lighthouse Route is fairly straight, making it a good drive for those maneuvering 18-wheelers with heavy loads of seafood, steel, and other products, or for tourists and local motorists, until they encounter THIS.
It is a dangerous stretch of highway from Port Mouton to Port L’Hebert hill that has sharp right curves, sharp left curves, and hills. It has always been that way but the Nova Scotia government has been ignoring it for decades, except to post the yellow and black signs and some guard rails. Signs don’t help much when the motorist, after driving 100 miles on straight roads, doesn’t fully comprehend how dangerous the area is, or how treacherous the roads become with rain, freezing rain, and snow. People have died on this part of the 103 and others have escaped with injuries of varying degrees. Those who live in the community, those who travel this road, and the emergency personnel who rush to the accidents, do not wonder if there will be another accident. They know there will be more, a lot more...until the Department Of Highways straightens the road. These pictures were taken yesterday, on Wednesday, November 21, 2007.
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(Photos by Barry Mouzar while Mary Mouzar was at the wheel)

Unsafe Passing Conditions From Summerville Centre To Sable River
A Port Mouton resident, Ken Burrows, says “There are almost no safe passing areas on this stretch of road. If you get behind the slow moving tractor trailers, many times you cannot pass until the Summerville exit of the 103 if heading east, or, Sable River hill if heading west.
“I have a real good view of the traffic coming east down over Farm Hill at the western entrance to Port Mouton and it is a very common occurence to see several large trucks coming east with five to 10 cars behind them,” he added.
“If the truck is ahead of you, starting east at Sable River, you could very well go 65 to 75 km/h for a 22 kilometer run to the Summerville exit. I did this just last week coming home from Shelburne.”
“This leads to frustration on the part of many drivers and creates unsafe passing situations,” says Ken.
 

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