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Drivers brave wintry highway conditions in southern Alberta

Click to play video: 'Drivers undeterred by wintry highway conditions outside of Calgary'
Drivers undeterred by wintry highway conditions outside of Calgary
WATCH: Snowy, icy and slushy highway conditions couldn’t stop drivers from heading out of Calgary Tuesday. Deb Matejicka talked to a number of drivers undeterred by poor road conditions – Oct 8, 2019

Drivers heading west out of Calgary weren’t deterred by the snowy, slushy conditions on the Trans-Canada Highway on Tuesday.

“It will be, how do you say? It’s an adventure,” said Dutch tourist Annemiek Mühlstaff.

Muhlstaff and her travel companion arrived in Calgary on Monday and set out for Banff Tuesday morning. She had some concerns with her rental car but otherwise was excited about the drive.

“I feel it’s OK,” replied Muhlstaff when asked how she felt about driving on the highway.

David Lush was on his way to Canmore when he pulled off the highway to clear some snow off his car.

“It’s been quite treacherous,” said Lush of the short drive from Calgary to the service station he stopped at just outside of city limits. “It’s been very slippery, slushy. You have to watch out for other drivers. People this time of year are getting used to winter driving again.”

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Still, Lush planned to continue on to his destination.

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Craig Yungmeyer, a semi-truck driver, was headed to Kamloops Tuesday. He wasn’t worried about the conditions as much as he was about how fast others were driving on the highway.

“A lot of times, it’s the other vehicles thinking the conditions are better than they really are and then they’re speeding and get into trouble. [They] hit a little bit of slush or something and it creates havoc,” said Yungmeyer.

Another semi-truck driver, Peter Fournier, echoed Yungmeyer’s sentiments.

“[Other drivers] think they’re invisible and they’ll pass you and they’ll spin out in front of you, like donuts in front of you,” said Fournier, adding it can take a semi-truck travelling 50 kilometres per hour up to 175 feet to come to a complete stop.
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“So if you’re only 30 feet or 50 feet in front of us and they decide, they try to stop, [you’re] going to see a big truck right on top of your trunk,” he said.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and it never fails. The first snowfalls, it’s nothing but a mess on the highway.”

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