No City policy about loaders on Whoop-Up, court is told
Dangerous driving causing death case continues
When 72-year-old Alan John Johnston drove into the back of a front-end loader in 2015 and died, the City didn’t have any policies prohibiting the operation of a loader on Whoop-Up Drive. But until then, a loader had never been used to pick up snow from the busy roadway because any “reasonable” person would be aware of the hazards, William Lee Perkins testified Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court.
Perkins, the city’s transportation operations manager, told court he didn’t know why Scott Edward Erickson was operating a front-end loader to remove snow from the median on Whoop-Up Drive West on the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2015. But at about 3:30 p.m. that day Johnston plowed into the back of the loader while it was in the fast lane of Whoop-Up Drive.
Erickson, who is charged with dangerous driving causing death, and whose trial began Monday, was picking up snow built up against the median and moving it across three lanes of traffic to dump it onto the north side of the road. He wanted to move the snow before it melted, then froze and caused icy conditions.
However, Perkins testified snow is not picked up from Whoop-Up Drive but plowed off the road using graders and high-speed snow plows.
“We’ve never used a loader to my knowledge,” especially on a Friday afternoon when traffic is at its peak, the Crown witness said.
He said he never would have authorized snow removal by a loader at that time of day, and had water from melting snow froze on the pavement, it would have been sanded and salted.
Under cross-examination by lawyer Balfour Der, Perkins admitted one of his foremen knew Erickson was removing snow, and he admitted the City didn’t have a written policy prohibiting loaders on Whoop-Up Drive. But removing snow by loader was not standard practice, he added.
Der, however, reminded Perkins of an email he had sent to his superiors following the collision, in which he explained Erickson was clearing snow from the road with a loader when he was struck by a car, and that “this is normal practice.”
When confronted with the email, Perkins said he “wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” at the time, and actually meant it was normal practice in other parts of the city, but not on Whoop-Up Drive.
Der also suggested Erickson was a safety conscious employee, and that he had been hired to be on a new snowstorm watch unit because he was the most qualified casual employee.
Perkins agreed he was qualified, but he disagreed that Erickson was safety conscious and said he had talked to him about issues before.
“Scott had instances of unsafe practices. He’s done a number of unsafe things.”
Much of the evidence presented during the trial Monday and Tuesday focused on the angle of the sun, which, witnesses testified, was shining in the eyes of motorists, making it difficult for them to see the loader working on the road.
Gene Lublinkhof testified he was driving to the westside about 20 minutes before the collision and didn’t see the loader, despite its flashing lights, until he was nearly up to it. The only reason he didn’t hit it, he said, is because he was in another lane. “I saw it at the last minute,” Lublinkhof said. After he drove past, he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the loader cross behind him to the other side of the road, which forced drivers farther down the hill to quickly slow down. He said he didn’t see any warning signs or lights to indicate snow was being removed from the road.
Lublinkhof said his vision up the road was impaired by the glare of the sun, but Der suggested the conditions couldn’t have been too blinding or dangerous because Lublinkhof didn’t lower his speed, even though he had at least one of his children in the car with him.
“Perhaps I was going too fast, as well,” Lublinkhof admitted.
Lethbridge Police Const. Brent Paxman, who conducted an accident reconstruction, testified Monday he believes the glare of the sun played a major role in the collision. But Tuesday under cross-examination, despite his conclusion, he agreed with Der that it’s possible Johnston simply wasn’t paying attention when he drove into the back of a front-end loader.
Der had suggested the sun wasn’t such a factor or other motorists would not have seen the loader, and even if the sun was glaring into the windshields, drivers only had to wear sunglasses or pull down their car visors to reduce the glare.
The trial doesn’t resume until Thursday when the Crown will continue its case. Crown prosecutor Bruce Ainscough is expected to call nearly a dozen more witnesses before defence begins its case. Although the trial is scheduled to wrap up Monday, Ainscough said it may require more time.