Number of collisions, commercial vehicles off the road should be embarrassing to us all: McDougall
Northwestern Ontario was battered by winter storms the weekend of March 17th, resulting in at least one death. Image: Environment Canada
"A 75-year-old from Ignace has been identified as the victim in this morning’s collision east of Dryden. The Dryden and Ignace OPP say they responded to the collision on Highway 17 near Camp Lake Road involving a tractor-trailer unit and a snowplow. The OPP says the driver of the tractor-trailer unit did not receive any injuries, and highway 17 remains closed. The identity of the 75-year-old from Ignace was not released. Their investigation will continue with the assistance of Technical Traffic Collision Investigations the Northwest Region Traffic Incident Management and Enforcement Team." --Dryden Now,March 17, 2023
A Message from Truckers for Safer Highways
“Unfortunately, days like today have become a stark reminder of the trouble the trucking industry is facing, in our opinion. Northern Ontario has seen some very poor weather conditions resulting in some very serious collisions as well as at least one fatality so far.
Truckers for Safer Highways sends our most heartfelt condolences to the family and colleagues of the plow operator in the Ignace/Dryden area.
These are the kind of days when truckers should be an example of professionalism and experience. Truckers should be the ones choosing to park when conditions become poor. We should be the ones on the highway that other drivers can rely on to be safe and make wise and educated choices while demonstrating good judgement.
We should not be the first collisions of the day throughout every separate region in a single province.
Highway users should be surprised to see a truck in the ditch any time of the year sadly, this is not the case.
Also people should feel safe in their homes regardless how close their home is to a major highway. Their should never be concerned about a truck barreling through a home.
Again this is a very sad and frustrating day for myself and many in the industry. The amount of collisions and commercial vehicles off the road should be embarrassing to us all, including the Ministry of Transportation (Caroline Mulroney) of Ontario (Ontario Transportation).
We at Truckers for Safer Highways started our efforts to advocate for change because of days just like today. It’s clear there are some serious issues and serious change is needed. We cannot do this alone and need the support of anyone who believes that we all have a right to use highways that are safe for all across Canada.
~Travis McDougall, Co-founder,
COLLISION: #Hwy17 is closed in both directions between #Dryden and #Shabaqua #ShabaquaCorners following a collision. #OPP on scene. Reopening time unknown. Lengthy closure expected. ^nk pic.twitter.com/O3RUJJl2wd
— OPPCommunicationsNWR (@OPP_COMM_NWR) March 17, 2023
