WESTLOCK – A Calgary man is dead following a Tuesday-afternoon crash between a pickup and semi-truck on Highway 44 roughly 23 kilometres north of the Town of Westlock.
Westlock RCMP Detachment acting commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland said that at approximately 2:58 p.m., June 6, a black Ford F-150 heading west on Highway 661 crossed Highway 44 and was clipped in the front by the southbound semi hauling a sea-can trailer with non-hazardous material. The collision caused the semi to roll into the east ditch roughly 100 metres from the Dapp Corner Store — the truck flipped onto its roof, while the trailer unit was on its side and covered half of the northbound lane of Highway 44.
Sutherland said the driver of the semi, a 35-year-old man from Calgary, succumbed to his injuries at the scene, while the driver of the pickup, a Westlock-area man, was uninjured. Westlock RCMP officers, along with members of the Alberta RCMP Traffic-Westlock Unit and Athabasca RCMP, as well as ambulance crews and firefighters from the Town of Westlock and Westlock County, worked to save the semi driver as the highway didn’t reopen to traffic until 8 p.m.
Sutherland admitted that the fact the driver of the semi was killed, makes this collision rare.
“It is less common that the semi driver is injured or killed just because they’re in the larger vehicle,” she said in a June 7 interview.
Sutherland, who noted road conditions were perfect “as it was sunny, clear and dry”, said as the accident is currently under investigation by an RCMP collision reconstructionist, they’re not releasing the age of the driver of the pickup.
In a June 7 release, RCMP public information officer Cpl. Gina Slaney said, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the deceased.”
