The string of highway accidents that has plagued the Estevan area this winter has claimed another life.
A 33-year-old Medicine Hat native was killed Jan. 8 when he lost control of his pick-up truck and collided head-on with a semi.
According to information from the RCMP, the accident occurred roughly four kilometres north of Estevan on Highway 47.
The driver of the truck, who was working in the area, was declared dead at the scene. The semi driver sustained minor injuries in the collision and was treated by EMTs at the scene and released.
Traffic was rerouted around the scene for a number of hours while an RCMP traffic reconstructionist conducted an investigation. Road conditions in the area were poor at the time of the accident as blowing snow created extremely icy conditions in the area. Although the investigation is continuing, the RCMP do not expect any charges will be laid. The name of the deceased has not been released.
Last week's collision was just the latest in a series of accidents on local highways this winter.
On Dec. 23, a 45-year-old Alberta man, who was living and working in the Redvers area, was killed when the vehicle he was driving collided with a semi east of Hirsch. Similar to last week's accident, road conditions were a major factor in the collision.
On Dec. 21, a family of five was injured when they were involved in another head-on collision east of the city. The two occupants of the other vehicle suffered minor injuries.
RCMP believe that alcohol was a factor in the accident and charges have been laid against the 16-year-old driver of the car that struck the SUV carrying the family.
Along with the accidents on the local highways, a number of collisions within city limits have been reported. Fortunately there have been no major injuries or fatalities in those incidents.
