THUNDER BAY — Video of an incident said to have been recorded west of the city on the Easter weekend shows risky driving manoeuvres that came close to causing more than one collision.
It happened on Saturday on a curve on Highway 11/17 in the area of Old Highway 11 Road.
According to the Facebook group Skilled Truckers Canada, a westbound tractor-trailer entered a passing lane near Frost's Road to overtake two other transport trucks that were in the outside lane.
When the driver of the first tractor-trailer came up alongside the first of the units the operator was attempting to pass, its driver signalled and almost immediately proceeded to enter the passing lane, nearly resulting in a collision between the two.
The driver of the first unit avoided this by moving into the oncoming lane just as a car was approaching from the opposite direction.
Fortunately, the driver of the passenger vehicle was able to avert a head-on collision by slipping over to the shoulder of the highway.
The video then shows the first tractor-trailer continuing in the oncoming lane while a second passenger car approached.
That driver, too, manoeuvred to the side of the road as they passed each other.
"This is the mentality of many drivers on our highways. This is absolute insanity. Sad reality is this .... is just one of the many times a day this happens," a comment attached to the video stated.
A spokesperson for Skilled Truckers Canada told a Dougall Media reporter "this is an ongoing problem" when a truck is overtaking another, and both are maxed out at their governed speeds, "locking both trucks neck and neck to the end of the passing lanes."
An OPP spokesperson was not available Monday to comment on the incident.
