Drivers need to take into account the highs and lows of this winter's weather if they want to avoid becoming the next victim in what has become a growing list of fatalities on this area's highways, says North District RCMP traffic services Staff Sergeant Pat McTiernan.
Instead of consistent cold, the temperature has fluctuated from sub-zero to unseasonably warm then back again, accompanied by snow, ice rain or rain, depending on the day and the snow turning to slush then to ice, as the thermometer goes up and then back down.
The result includes icy ruts and snow hiding icy patches.
"I don't think the drivers are adjusting to all the different driving conditions we have out there right now," McTiernan said this week.
He is also asking they be less foolhardy in the vicinity of the semi trucks pulling large trailers.
"We're seeing people that are passing a transport truck in slush," McTiernan said. "They bounce off the back wheels of the trailer into oncoming traffic and die in a car crash."
By The Citizen's count, as of Wednesday, 11 people have died in seven incidents along Highway 16 stretching from Houston to the Alberta border since the snow began to fly in early November and six of them involved collisions between passenger vehicles and larger commercial trucks.
More often than not, the driver of the passenger vehicle is at fault and pays the biggest price.
"We can expect there to be an increase in commercial traffic in the north with everything we have going on in the Peace and out west and on Highway 37," McTiernan said. "And it's up to the people driving the passenger vehicles and the pickups to think about how they behave around those vehicles because those vehicles are large and they cause a lot of damage."
Tips from McTiernan included refraining from using electronic devices while driving - they are a distraction - and staying away from the cruise control.
"If the cruise control is on and they go into an uphill grade, the vehicle will downshift to maintain the vehicle's speed," McTiernan said. "Well, then we have the tires break free, the vehicle swings back and forth across the centre line."
Above all, McTiernan said drivers need to slow down so that mistakes they may make are not compounded so greatly.
And if they do get into trouble, he said they need to stay calm.
"We see drivers all the time that get into the slush and panic and you see the wheels going in each direction and everything else and really the driver needs to relax and not panic and steer through it if he can," McTiernan said.
