REGINA – With winter weather starting to hit Saskatchewan, the provincial Ministry of Highways was at Agribition promoting a message of how to be safe on the roads.
Wednesday was the launch of their annual safety program, with the ministry showing off one of their highway snow-clearing equipment in the trade show area.
Their message was for drivers to give the snowplows space on the roads and to always check the Highway Hotline. The ministry says new online ads will debut this winter as well to remind drivers to be safe on the roads.
The timing also perfectly coincided with the arrival of winter weather this week in many parts of Saskatchewan, with a big dump of snow hitting the western portion of the province this week and with Regina itself covered in fog earlier that morning.
The main message from Highways Minister David Marit was to “please ensure our snowplow operators and all drivers get home safely.”
“They all have families. When clearing snow or treating ice, snowplows create what we call a mini blizzard, which we call the snow zone. It's hard to avoid what you can't see, and snowplows create whiteout conditions for other drivers. They're all aware of this, and they pull over every 10 to 15 kilometres to allow you to pass. So when you're driving, please be cautious and patient. We want everyone to get home safely. We want the driving public to get home safely to wherever they're going, and we want all our employees to get home safely to their families.”
Also at the launch event was Danika Potie, an operator out of Big River, Saskatchewan who primarily runs a snow plow truck on Highway 55 between Shellbrook and Green Lake, as well as along the old Highway 55 and on Highway 240.
Potie spoke of a serious event four years ago when she was operating her plow truck heading north to Debden, on a day of blizzard conditions and snow covering the highway.
As she was clearing the snow, a semi truck was coming up behind her driving too fast, and she tried to accelerate to avoid a collision.
“And so in that moment, we collided and there was an impact. And the front of his truck hit the rear of my truck and actually dented the truck that I drive today. And there's still a dent in the truck. Every day when I walk by the truck, I see that dent. And luckily, his truck did not force my truck into the ditch, and we managed to slow our trucks down in time to pull over at a safe place.”
Potie said they were “very fortunate to not have a bigger pileup or some more serious injuries or damage done. And luckily, when we pulled over, we were able to get out in a safe place and check everything over.”
Potie said everyone involved was okay, but “it also did slow me down for the day. I had to wait around for a cop to come, and we had to do a big report and everything. And his truck was damaged to the point where he could not drive his semi away.”
She reminded people that the big reason why this might have happened was primarily because of the "snow zone," and the "swirling effect that trails behind our truck is significant enough to blind a person to the point where you may not see us in time.”
“So in my opinion, the best thing is to stay back and give the plow lots of room. Don't crowd us. We have a job to do, and we want to get home at the end of the night to our home and to our families and friends.”
In speaking to reporters afterwards, Marit reiterated the importance of being careful in the “snow zone” on the roads.
“You know, our snow plow operators, they're always out there in the worst conditions. They're not out there when the highways are good. They might be out checking. But usually when we have a blizzard or a storm or rain or whatever, that's when our drivers are out there.”
He said the main message was for the public to “really be aware of how the information is conveyed to them, you know, through our apps.”
The other one is for the public to check the Highway Hotline before you head out on the highways.
“Because you never know. I mean, the province is huge. And you can go from the south end where it might be nice of this province and be driving up to Saskatoon or PA. And in the meantime, you're going to hit a snowstorm. So it really is about that.”
The other message was for everyone “to really respect our employees and the trucks that are out there. It's really for their own safety as well, but really for the safety of our employees too as well.”
