Drivers in the Olds area fared well during the latest snowfall last week, which resulted in multiple crashes along Highway 2 and elsewhere in the province.
RCMP across Alberta responded to more than 600 collisions between Thursday, Nov. 27 and Saturday, Nov. 29. Approximately 50 of those collisions involved injury.
One of the biggest ones occurred about 300 feet north of the Olds overpass on Highway 2. A tractor-trailer jackknifed. A chain-reaction series of collisions occurred, but no one was reported to be injured.
Farther up the QE II, An Alberta Sheriff Highway Patrol Officer, a member of the QEII Integrated Traffic Unit, was checking on vehicle occupants at a collision scene Thursday, when he was struck and injured by an out-of-control semi-trailer. The officer was taken to hospital by ambulance.
A tanker truck involved in another secondary collision also rolled and was leaking fuel.
On Nov. 28, only three collisions had been reported by the Olds RCMP detachment since the snow started falling two nights before. Two were in town and one out in the country, said Cpl. Mike Black.
That doesn't include the multi-vehicle accident at the overpass.
“I think people are heeding the weather and they're driving accordingly to the best of their abilities and they're not travelling unless absolutely necessary,” Black said.
RCMP have advised people not to drive unless necessary. That doesn't happen often.
“Only in the most extreme circumstances,” Black said. “The closure of any highways is the (responsibility of the) department of transport.”
Black said the worst months for driving tend to come in the early winter, when people are just adapting to changing conditions. At that point, many still haven't installed winter tires.
But that doesn't excuse drivers for not leaving enough space in front of them or speeding, because every crash is preventable, according to the RCMP.
“I'm in complete agreement that there are no accidents,” Black said. “It's a collision, hence the wording of ‘motor vehicle collision' as opposed to ‘motor vehicle accident'.”
