The Dreaded Trans Canada Highway
After unloading the rebar under the Port Mann bridge for the new bridge, I headed to Delta to load some huge tires (see pic) to deliver to Red Deer. This of course means that I had to travel the “highway of death” as it is known. The trans canada highway between Kamloops and Golden is the worst stretch of highway in western canada with the exception of the Fort MacMurray highway maybe. This is because it is narrow and winds through the mountains. The maintenance on this highway during the winter months is poor for some reason. All drivers seem to speed also which doesn’t help much. Things were going pretty good for a while even though the road was icy in some spots traffic seemed to be driving cautiously. Another rig with a load of tires was a few kilometers in front of me and we were talking every now and then on the radio about the road conditions etc. Then the other driver was involved in an accident on the corners next to Summit Lake. It seems that a mini van lost control on a corner and bounced off the cement no post then veered into on coming traffic hitting a SUV head on and then bouncing off of the rig hauling the tires. The rig driver tried to ditch his rig to avoid the mini van but it hit him in the fuel tank rupturing it and then coming to a stop a few feet away. The rig ended up in the snow bank (see pic) off the road and there were three seriously injured people in the two vehicles. I got stopped about half a km away but could see the mayhem and listened to the other rig drivers who witnessed the whole thing describe how the accident occurred. Two hours later I was able to resume my trip to Red Deer. The driver of the rig was okay but couldn’t get his truck pulled out because of the ruptured fuel tank (environmental issues) until morning, so he was going home. I wished him a Merry Christmas before heading on my way. I kept thinking that if I had left before him that could have been me involved in the crash. Not his fault in any way but just bad luck I suppose. I must have counted 5-10 vehicles in the ditch between Kamloops and Golden because of icy road conditions. Oh by the way, the sand trucks showed up while they were cleaning up the accident (figures). Delivered the load in Red Deer and drove to Edmonton to load a John Deere excavator for the return trip home only this time I’m going down Highway 5. Get to spend Christmas with my sister and nephews in Red Deer though. Bye for now.
