Highway 1 east of Regina looked more like a crash test on Friday night.
“Everything’s fine until you hit this patch, so everyone’s going really fast and then they hit this patch and then they just… My vehicle’s in the ditch right there,” said Randi Wilton, who had spun out into the ditch.
She was just one of numerous drivers who had lost control. For those on the road, this stretch of highway 1 was nothing short of treacherous.
“…just crested the hill and the roads were a solid sheet of ice… pulled over to the shoulder and watched the action. It was just like a bowling alley, said Bill Rowein, who was also stranded on the highway.
Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Still, those who weren’t injured had to wait hours while emergency crews attended the scene. On Saturday, Randi Wilton was waiting to get her car towed out of the ditch. As it turns out, she was headed to Regina for a surprise birthday party. She never knew the surprise would be on her.
“A semi just smashed the vehicle right off the road and then as soon as the semi jackknifed nobody could stop, and then everybody just went everywhere. I think there was about at least four stretches that we seen go off,” she said.
Fred Steeves knows these roads well. He’s been trucking for 10 years and has never been in a major accident. He’s got advice for those travelling on slick roads.
“You slow down. You drive according to the conditions of the highways. It’s not a race,” he said.
Roger Pardiac is another truck driver who’s seen his fair share of collisions, and he says the roads last night were an accident waiting to happen.
“Pretty much, because you hit some of these patches and you’re moving at 100 kilometres an hour, you can lose it pretty fast,” he said.
Comments