2 men charged after separate multi-vehicle crashes on Trans-Canada Highway
Saskatoon driver charged in crash involving pickup, 4 semis; Winnipeg man charged in 2nd Thursday pileup
Slippery roads caused multiple crashes in western Manitoba Thursday morning, including one involving four semi-trailer trucks and a pickup truck west of Brandon.
A 41-year-old driver from Saskatoon has now been charged in connection with that crash, RCMP said Thursday afternoon.
And a 31-year-old Winnipeg man also faces a charge in connection with a separate pileup on the Trans-Canada Thursday.
Sgt. Paul Manaigre, a spokesperson for the RCMP, said no life-threatening injuries were reported as a result of the first multi-truck crash, which happened shortly after 7 a.m. west of Brandon. The southwestern Manitoba city is 200 kilometres west of Winnipeg.
According to an RCMP release, a line of westbound semis were stopped along the highway because of weather conditions when a semi driving on the road slowed down to pass them.
Another semi moving past wasn't able to slow down, lost control and collided with the other semis and a pickup truck, police said.
A photo attached to a Manitoba RCMP tweet showed a load of lumber spilled across the road.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MBHwy1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MBHwy1</a> CLOSED in both directions from Brandon to Virden due to a multi-vehicle collision. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rcmpmb?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#rcmpmb</a> <a href="https://t.co/z8Y9hnfz4V">pic.twitter.com/z8Y9hnfz4V</a>
—@rcmpmbA male passenger of one of the semi tractors was taken to hospital in Brandon with non-life-threatening injuries, and the 40-year-old driver of the pickup truck was airlifted to Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. He's in stable condition.
A 41-year-old man from Saskatoon has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act for imprudent driving. The charge comes with a fine of $203.
That wasn't the only multi-vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Thursday morning.
Further along Highway 1, another semi-trailer was unable to slow down while passing stopped traffic and collided with a semi in front of it. The crash caused a pileup that blocked Highway 1.
One male passenger from that crash was taken to Brandon Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A 31-year-old man from Winnipeg was also charged with imprudent driving under the Highway Traffic Act.
Both crashes are still under investigation.
Winter blast
As a result of the crashes, a 70-kilometre stretch of Highway 1 was closed from Brandon west to Virden, Man., Thursday morning. Manaigre said slippery roads caused a handful of other collisions on the same stretch of highway.
Early Thursday afternoon, he said all eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway had been reopened.
Brandon got more than five centimetres of snow on Wednesday, with a light snowfall starting in the mid-afternoon but becoming heavy around 11 p.m.