09/08/2026
For those who had missed the story behind our local famous Stephane Landry
‘It’s pretty touching’ The story behind the man at Exit 446
Tom Bateman/Times & Transcript
For the past few summers, more days than not, a slim, tanned man stands behind the guard rail on the outside of one of the sharpest bends in the Trans-Canada Highway, just west of Moncton, carefully watching traffic. If it wasn’t for his reflective vest, Stephane Landry would easily be missed by most passersby. Unless you’re a trucker. Almost every truck driver knows to look for Stephane Landry at Exit 446. For several years on most summer mornings, the 36-year-old Moncton man pedals his bike about 10 kilometres out to the highway with a lunch, some water and his camera. He spends the day collecting hundreds of photos of the big rigs - similar to the ones driven by his father and brother - that speed by him. He waves to them, and they always honk back. ‘HE’S NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO TALK’ Landry’s dedication is even more impressive when you understand where he came from. When he was only weeks old, he was diagnosed with Hemolytic-uremic syndrome following an E.coli infection. “Doctors really didn’t know if he would pull through or not,” his mother Ginette Landry said.“Before we left Halifax, they had given me names of institutions that we could put him in. Doctors told us that he would never eat, walk, be toilet trained, and basically be a vegetable for the rest of his life.” Stephane lost the use of much of the right side of his body and suffered brain damage. As he grew, his mother worked hard to rehabilitate her son. “There’s not a day that went by that I didn’t bring him somewhere - either speech therapy, physio, occupational therapy,” she said. Landry’s father Regis credited his mother’s dedication with helping him improve his motor- and life-skills dramatically. Landry graduated from Polyvalente Louis-J.-Robichaud in Shediac and now lives on his own in Moncton, where he gets help with things like shopping, banking and cooking. “He’s done really, really well,” his father said. “He’s not even supposed to be able to talk.” ‘HE FEELS LIKE A SUPERSTAR’ Landry comes from a family of truckers: his father drives for Day and Ross, and his brother is a trucker in Fort St. John, B.C. But because he takes medication for seizures, Landry isn’t allowed to drive. He often rides with his father on long, cross-country hauls and his favourite kind of tractor is a Volvo, like the one his dad drives. “There’s a lot he’s not able to do, and it took a long time for him to accept it,” Regis Landry explained. So, equipped with a small point-and-shoot camera his father bought him, Landry started trekking out to truck stops and highways to take photos of the trucks. “It was kind of the next best thing,” Ginette Landry said. But it wasn’t perfect. At first, Landry went into the median between the divided highway to get as close as possible to the trucks. That elicited calls to the RCMP, who helped him find the Berry Mills exit. It’s working out pretty well: he can see the trucks coming from both ways, and has a solid vantage from either side. “He’s got it down to a science now,” his mother said. As he was watching the trucks, the truckers started seeing him too. “We just happened to be noticing him out at the Berry Mills exit every day, especially in the summer, taking pictures and waving,” Mike Ouellet, a trucker for Sunbury Transport, said in an interview.“It kind of made our day too.” Ouellet founded the Maritime Ride ‘N Pride group on Facebook in 2013. Its 2,600 members, mainly drivers, use it as an networking tool and promoting the positives in the trucking industry. Earlier this summer, Landry was referred to the group by a trucker and he started posting hundreds of photos of trucks, many driven by members of the group. His photos launched him to celebrity status among the members, who’ve handed him stacks of company hats and model trucks from trucking firms right across the country. One trucker gave him an old CB radio so drivers can talk to him as they pass by. Pulling over on the side of the highway is a big deal for drivers in an industry driven by tight deadlines. “I’ve been [driving] for 14 years and I’ve never seen anything like this, to have somebody dedicate his free time like that. It’s pretty touching, especially now I’ve talked to him and met him,” Ouellet said. “They actually slow down for me,” Landry said. Ginette said she’s heard truckers are careful to wash their trucks before driving past her son’s spot on the highway. “He feels like a superstar” she said. “For him, it’s work and it offers him self-worth,” his father added. Regis Landry has been a trucker for four decades, and said how his colleagues treat his son speaks to a resurgence in camaraderie within the industry. “I find it’s a community now ... it’s a feel-good for people the whole way around,” he added. In the winter, Landry stops his photography and shifts to his other passion: hockey. He’s also the longtime equipment manager and trainer for his former high school’s Patriotes hockey team. “I told the boys I’m stopping for the winter and I’ll be back in the summer,” Landry said. The drivers will be ready. “The last time I was down there and honked, and he realized it was me, his wave was even bigger,” Ouellet said. “It’s pretty touching, it kind of brought a tear to my eye.”
