A dozen collisions in two days is quite a high number, but perhaps not surprising considering road conditions around Slave Lake last week. When the RCMP released a report on the situation on Feb. 13, that’s how many such ‘accidents’ they’d responded to in the previous 48 hours. Some involved single vehicles and some were “multi-vehicle.”
And it didn’t stop there.
“We’re still getting lots of accidents,” said Staff Sgt. Willie Wittig on Thursday, Valentine’s Day. “Somebody just ran into the back of a police car!
An independent (unconfirmed) report of a collision on Hwy. 2 west of Slave Lake had a log truck rear-ending another vehicle that had slowed down to pass a truck loading yet another vehicle that had hit the rhubarb.
Police did not report any serious injuries from the rash of accidents, but property damage must have been considerable. On the whole, RCMP say, incautious driving was a factor.
“Black ice and blowing snow have made driving very dangerous,” says the release from Cpl. Chris Cooper and Cst. John Spaans.
“Drivers should use due diligence and slow their speeds to below the posted limit and avoid using the highways unless absolutely necessary.”
They get no argument from the regional fire department, which has been called out on rescue duty to several of the highway incidents. The rollovers they attended were fairly ordinary (no one hurt), deputy chief Jamie Coutts told The Leader, but the danger presented by other drivers on the road was anything but ordinary.
“We certainly had our share of trouble with the rest of the maniacs who were out on the highway,” Coutts said, clearly upset at the danger his people had to face while attending accidents.
“People were still rocketing through. Our guys were standing in the ditch instead of the road, to be safe. All these guys are volunteers; they don’t need to be risking their lives.”
Coutts said he’s pleased that the RCMP’s traffic division is now fully staffed, and hopes they lay down the law and make a dent in people’s speeding habits. Especially when the driving conditions are so bad.
“The roads are horrible,” he says, and lots of drivers don’t seem to realize it.
“Some guys obviously have been doing 110 all the way from High Prairie and when they had to slow down for us was the first time they’d put their brakes on.”
That’s when they found out how slippery the road was.

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