Growing number of collisions and closures along QE2 has some concerned
Posted Apr 1, 2014 8:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Chances are you’ve noticed it, if you drive between Edmonton and Calgary on a regular basis; the number of collisions and subsequent closures along Alberta’s busiest highway are up.
It’s still unclear what’s behind this up tick over the past three years.
AMA Director of Advocacy and Community Services Don Szarko has been speaking with his counterparts at Alberta Transportation and tells 660News they’ve noticed the same thing.
“It could be there’s a lot more people travelling, it’s a 24/7 highway,” Szarko said. “It’s the spine of the province, it’s the major link north to south but connects and feeds the east, west links, more and more will be wanting to use that every day rain, shine, sleet or snow.”
“Difficulty arises when people get into trouble, then you end up with 40 cars in the ditch and a couple of cases where semis have spilled across lanes of traffic,” he explained.
Szarko says when cars are allowed to pile up in some areas, those are not safe conditions and there have been times where even the AMA has been told to stay off the highway.
“We haven’t been allowed to go out with our tow trucks to even rescue people because it hasn’t been safe,” he explained. “The RCMP have said nope, there’s a no-tow or a tow-ban until we get things cleaned up out here’ so we can go out and rescue you but we can’t tow your or extract your vehicle.”
When asked about whether speed can be linked to this issue, Szarko says it’s always a concern but it’s not necessarily a contributing factor.
“The QE2, people do tend to open it up, it’s always been one of the safest highways, when you look at the volume and number of fatalities, it’s been pretty low compared to others in the province,” he said.
What Szarko believes is needed here is an educational and awareness campaign to get people to drive more to the conditions of the roadway.
“Drivers need to get a better sense of their own abilities and their vehicle,” he said.
Szarko’s advice: “Winter isn’t over yet folks, in parts of the province there is heavy snow this spring. We always get those snow storms right through till May sometimes, temperatures are going to warm up a bit, but let’s not discount the fact we may be driving through blizzard conditions for the next month or so, be aware of that and drive accordingly.”
