SASKATOON -- People who frequent Highway 3 between Prince Albert and Shellbrook say a fatal crash on Monday evening isn’t the only serious crash to have occurred on the same stretch of the road.
RCMP responded to a head-on crash around 5:30 p.m. about five kilometres west of Prince Albert. The crash claimed the lives of a four-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man, who were pronounced dead on scene. Paramedics took two others to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, a three-year-old girl and a 34-year-old woman.
The crash occurred near R&W Custom Collision. Owner Ward Howat said he was at the shop when emergency vehicles arrived on scene.
“The highway that goes across here, it’s never slow. There’s always vehicles all of the time. There’s been numerous accidents on this highway for as long as I’ve been here,” he said. He’s run the business for 25 years.
Howat said he witnessed another collision at a busy intersection right by the shop in November of 2018.
A customer of his, a 16-year-old girl, had just picked up her vehicle when she collided with a semi-truck.
“She had a standard vehicle and stalled a little bit moving across the highway to get across and got hit right at that intersection there too, so another devastating crash.”
The teenager was taken to hospital with serious injuries, according to a Parkland Ambulance news release at the time.
Howat said there were slippery road conditions in both incidents. RCMP said road conditions at the time of the crash on Monday were “extremely icy” and that alcohol is not considered a factor. The investigation is ongoing.
Earlier this year, the province announced funding for about 50 sets of passing lanes on Saskatchewan highways. This includes three sets on Highway 3, which will be between 10 kilometres west of Prince Albert and Shellbrook.
In an emailed statement, a Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure spokesperson said construction is set to begin in 2021 and be complete in 2022.
“Safety is top priority for the Government of Saskatchewan. Passing lane projects on Highway 2 north of Prince Albert and Highway 3 west of P.A. announced by the government this past June will help improve safety in the Prince Albert area,” reads the statement.
Howat proposed a double-lane highway as the best solution for preventing similar collisions. For R.M. of Buckland Reeve Don Fyrk, the easiest safety measure would be installing traffic lights.
“There’s usually a collision there at least once a year and they’re pretty serious collisions, like people getting hurt and there’s also death involved,” he said.
“Something’s got to be done.”
RCMP said the 30-year-man who died as a result of Monday’s collision was from Prince Albert, and the four-year-old boy was from Parkside. The Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service has ordered autopsies.
The 34-year-old woman and three-year-old girl who were taken to hospital were from the Shellbrook area.
