Video about impaired-driving dangers produced in memory of N.S. girl killed while biking

A new video seeks to preserve the memory of a Cape Breton girl who was killed on her bike nearly seven years ago.

Mia White was 11 years old when her life was forever changed.

She was riding bicycles with her best friend, Talia Forrest, on the night of July 11, 2019 on the Black Rock Road in Black Rock, N.S.

“I haven’t rode a bike since that night,” White said on Thursday.

The ten-year-old Forrest was struck and killed by an SUV.

The driver, Colin Tweedie, was convicted on three counts including impaired driving causing death.

In January, he was released from prison on full parole.

White, who is now 18, said she now deals with what she describes as a sort of survivor’s guilt.

“I live with that guilt for the rest of my life that Talia was killed and I’m still here today, and I wake up every morning and think it’s another day and Talia should be here,” she said.

Noelle MacLean, who lives near where the crash took place, was one of the first people on scene that night.

Now, she has produced a video to warn others of the dangers of driving impaired.

“I never met (Forrest) until she died outside of my home,” MacLean said. “(The video) was just something I had to do to get that message out, to make people think twice, to think hard, to make the right decision.”

In the video, retired RCMP officer Darren Sylvester talks about seeing a little girl’s flip flops on the road that night and how memories of responding to the scene still affect him to this day.

“You know, a lot of people see a police officer as the bad guy, but you know we’re human beings,” Sylvester said in the video, which is now available on YouTube. “And when we have to do something like that, it’s hard for us not to cry.”

MacLean added the plan is to spread the video’s message beyond its online presence.

“We are going to share it with all of the schools to try to get kids, even before they get their license, to make a conscious decision that as they grow and start to drive that they are not going to make that mistake,” MacLean said.

The video was also created to keep Forrest’s memory alive and, perhaps, to try and help those who were hurt by the tragedy to heal.

“I’m not the same little girl as I was years ago,” White said. “Talia should be here, but she’s not because of someone’s selfish choice to drive under the influence.”

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