A missing STOP sign in Canada: fatal crash

[thirdcrank]

I'm posting this with thanks to my Canada correspondent, Mistik-ka who sent me this link about the trial and conviction of a man for what seems to be the Canadian equivalent of causing death by dangerous driving and manslaughter. There's more detail of the evidence than we tend to get in media reports. I've found it very interesting.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoo ... -1.4992751

It seems that the defendant drove a pick-up truck at some 80mph along a "grid road" (which looks to me like a straight track) and emerged into a main road, hitting a "semi" and pushing it over 80 metres into a ditch. The semi in this instance is a big truck, not a house, but it might as well have been. There's evidence of phone use.

A key point is that the STOP sign at the junction had been demolished some time before and though reported, had not been replaced. The defendant lived quite locally but claimed he was not familiar with the junction, having only used it ten times.

There were six passengers in the defendant's vehicle, including children he had not strapped in. Three people were killed and others seriously injured. The defendant had a bad record and was alleged to have been caught speeding twice between the date of the crash and the case coming to trial.

In an illustration of the difference between criminal and civil cases, the defendant is suing the authorities for compo in relation to the missing sign

There are links within the link including a video demonstration by a Mountie of the defendant's view on the approach to the junction.

[irc]

Almost beyond belief that anyone would drive at 80mph, without seatbelts, and on the phone on a dirt track.

https://goo.gl/maps/d5mrP3QL7KM2

[Mistik-ka]

It seems that the defendant drove a pick-up truck at some 80mph along a "grid road" (which looks to me like a straight track) and emerged into a main road, hitting a "semi" and pushing it over 80 metres into a ditch.

By way of clarification based on local knowledge, a "grid road" is part of the provincially-maintained "grid system", surveyed in a rectangular grid over an area half the size of England before there were enough European settlers to require roads. Functionally most grid roads are equivalent to "unclassified" roads on O.S. maps. In this case the road is surfaced with gravel (the norm for rural roads in this part of the world). The speed limit on all such roads is 50 mph unless posted otherwise. Being the responsibility of the Provincial Department of Highways, grid roads are generally ploughed promptly after snowfall and the gravel is renewed regularly. Not pleasant for cycling, but adequate for vehicles at 50 mph and less prone to potholes than many asphault roads I've cycled on both here and in England. For us sturdy prairie folk, this is a big step up from a "dirt track". (Trust me, I've driven and cycled on real dirt tracks all my life. Think 'wide and badly surfaced bridle path'.)

That said, although 80 mph in the dark on a grid road certainly fits my definition of dangerous driving, it is by no means rare behaviour. Even in daylight collisions at intersections occur because there is so little crossing traffic on some roads that drivers forget to look for it. At night time the collisions —devastating and not infrequently fatal— are likely to be with deer or moose.

The "main road' in question is a major 4-lane divided highway, a good A-Road by British standards. Being a divided highway, I think its speed limit is 70 mph.

Yes, irc, that's the intersection. You can see that another danger in driving our roads is that of nodding off to sleep when you haven't had to deflect the steering wheel for twenty miles or more.

[thirdcrank]

Almost beyond belief that anyone would drive at 80mph, without seatbelts, and on the phone on a dirt track.

Unlike the that image AIUI, this crash was at night.

[Ben@Forest]

Unlike the that image AIUI, this crash was at night.

And given what the terrain looks like (flat and open) you'd think that would have made the accident even less likely - if he'd been concentrating surely he'd have seen the HGV's lights from a long way off?

[thirdcrank]

When I read through the reports in the links I was amazed. I suspect that part of the thing may be that with perhaps lighter traffic than in some urban areas, it's possible to get away with more bad driving because there's not much likelihood of meeting another vehicle ie a bit like it used to be in rural areas here.

FWIW, three deaths and several seriously injured came in at seven years imprisonment, although I believe remission in Canada is a third, rather than our current half.'

[hercule]

I worked in a hospital in the prairies of Alberta one summer in the late 80s. I’m surprised these accidents aren’t more common. A regular occurrence in our tiny A&E was bruised and beaten up drivers who’d fallen asleep and driven into the ditch. With the added distraction of mobile phones it doesn’t bear thinking about.

The road network over there was quite a change for someone used to UK roads: dead straight all the way to the horizon, mostly gravel roads with deep ditches either side. The bus journey to Edmonton (about 100km away) was characterise by the fact that there was a bend in the road about 30km before you reached the city limits...

A bit south of us a major buffalo reserve was bisected by a major east-west highway. Whilst I was there a randy wood buffalo bull managed to escape through the fence, across the four lane highway and into the other half of the reserve in pursuit of on on heat cow. Caused a major accident with, I think, several fatalities. The buffalo (think of something the size of a Transit van!) was unharmed.

[Mick F]

Unlike the that image AIUI, this crash was at night.

And given what the terrain looks like (flat and open) you'd think that would have made the accident even less likely - if he'd been concentrating surely he'd have seen the HGV's lights from a long way off?

I agree. He obviously wasn't concentrating in the slightest.

Off topic a bit, but there's a cross-roads near here on a narrow road where it was popular in the 60s(?) at night to turn off your headlights so you could see if anyone was coming, so you could go straight over. Trouble is, other drivers had the same idea and there were a series of head-on collisions.

Just here:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.53163 ... 312!8i6656