Poor weather makes for tricky commute on Calgary roads

WATCH ABOVE: Jill Croteau delivers a live report on the poor conditions on Calgary roads. 

CALGARY – Poor weather made for a tricky commute on roads in and around Calgary on Monday morning.

In the city, blowing snow and temperatures below -15 degrees have resulted in reduced visibility and icy conditions.

Over the past 24 hours, police responded to more than 100 crashes on Calgary roads. The majority of collisions occurring in high-traffic areas like Deerfoot Trail.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, three people were injured in a crash on Deerfoot and Country Hills Boulevard when their minivan lost control and struck a pole.

City crews worked throughout the morning on Monday, laying a mixture of salt, gravel and sodium chloride. They say salt alone stops working at temperatures below -20, so they lay sodium chloride to ensure the mixture sticks to the roads.

The city says its crews are ploughing areas where snow is accumulating and that so far conditions seem to be the same right across the city.

READ MORE: After warmer-than-normal December, deep freeze returns to Canada

“Right now it’s looking pretty even all across the board. There are times during snowfalls where we see more snow in the northeast or the northwest of the city just because of how the wind blows, but right now its looking very standard right across the city,”said Julie Yepishina-Geller with the city’s roads department.

They added that they don’t expect enough snow to accumulate to trigger a snow parking ban.

On highways outside the city conditions are no better.

On Sunday morning a woman was killed, when her vehicle was struck by a pickup travelling north on Highway 36.

The vehicle then slid into the path of another pickup truck heading south, resulting in a second collision.

An 18-year-old woman from Rolling Hills, the lone driver of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The name of the young woman that passed away has not been released.