Collisions pile up in icy conditions as temperatures drop

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This article was published 07/11/2024 (361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Below-freezing overnight temperatures and icy driving conditions have led to a lengthening list of vehicle collisions in southern Manitoba this week.

On Thursday, workers hauled a tractor-trailer out of a ditch near a Trans-Canada Highway bridge by St. François Xavier after a collision Wednesday, temporarily closing the highway.

A 31-year-old man driving west in a pickup truck at about 7:15 a.m. crossed over the median near the bridge and collided with the eastbound semi-truck, RCMP said.

The transport-truck driver, a 23-year-old man, tried to avoid the collision but hit the ditch and part of the vehicle ended up in the Assiniboine River.

Both drivers were taken to hospital with serious injuries, RCMP said.

Earlier Wednesday, a vehicle headed south on an icy Highway 59 bridge lost control, causing a 19-vehicle chain-reaction pileup. A 55-year-old man from Tyndall was killed.

Selkirk RCMP and responders from nearby fire departments and ambulance services raced to the bridge, located near Springhill Winter Sports Park in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul, just northeast of Winnipeg, at about 6:30 a.m.

Officers located the man dead on the road. RCMP spokeswoman Michelle Lissel said Wednesday investigators are still trying to determine which vehicle the victim had been driving and whether he was thrown from it in the collision or got out on his own.

Other drivers were treated for minor injuries.

Early Tuesday, one person was taken to hospital after a six-vehicle collision on the south Perimeter Highway.

Winnipeg police officers were sent to the area of St. Mary’s Road and the Perimeter just after 7 a.m. Police said the road was “extremely slippery” because of below-freezing overnight temperatures.

The initial crash was followed by a series of slower crashes, as the conditions made it difficult to stop. One person was taken to hospital in stable condition.

Progressive Conservative MLA for La Verendrye Konrad Narth needled Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor over the icy collisions during question period on Thursday, asking if she will allocate additional funding for preventative maintenance and sanding crews.

“No Manitoban should have to worry about road safety, especially on major traffic routes,” said Narth, calling the man’s death tragic.

Naylor also sent her condolences, then said the province’s new road-safety unit — set up in January — is sent out whenever there is a fatality on a highway to investigate.

He later asked about a 24-hour sanding pilot project budgeted earlier this year and questioned why sanding trucks attended the scenes of the collisions after the fact.

Naylor said the roads had been inspected and sanded beforehand, starting at 4 a.m.

“With the fatality, the sanding took place about an hour before the collision took place,” Naylor said, calling the crews hard-working.

“These are rapidly changing conditions.”

Narth said it was very concerning that the roads would be that icy an hour after sanding trucks went out and asked what would be done this week to address road conditions.

In response, Naylor pointed to public service cuts under the Tories and accused Narth of lying about the work sanding crews did ahead of the fatality.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca