By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Trial begins for city worker charged in fatal collision

Mar 5, 2018 | 5:19 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A five-day trial got underway Monday, Mar. 5, for a City of Lethbridge employee, who faces a charge of dangerous driving causing death.

Scott Edward Erickson was charged in connection with a fatal collision on Whoop-Up Drive on Nov. 13, 2015, which claimed the life of 72-year-old Alan Johnston.

That afternoon, around 3:30, a 2009 Pontiac Montana minivan struck the back of a City of Lethbridge front-end loader while travelling in the left lane on west-bound Whoop-Up, near the exit to University Drive North.

In an agreed statement of facts presented to the court, it was revealed that information from the van’s Crash Data Retrieval Unit showed there was no braking from the vehicle until one second prior to the collision. It was also determined that the minivan was travelling at 76 km/h until the brakes were applied, dropping it down to 59 km/h and indicating that it hit at a speed lower than 59 km/h.

Accused statement to LPS

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In a video recorded interview with the Lethbridge Police Service four days after the incident, Erickson told Cst. Ross Bond that it was his idea to take the front-end loader out onto Whoop-Up Drive that day.

“I thought of it, called my foreman and he said ‘Yeah, go ahead. Be careful,’” Erickson stated in the video.

He explained that he wanted to clear snow that had built up on the north side of the concrete barrier that separates east and west bound Whoop-Up, saying that the melting snow could run across the roadway and freeze overnight. When asked, Erickson admitted that he did not have a warning vehicle with him, saying, “Mainly, I’m by myself for one… The job was supposed to be snap, in and out.”

Describing the process, Erickson said he would scoop up snow from the barrier, then drive across three lanes of traffic to dump it on the grass on the north side of Whoop-Up. He said he had to wait for traffic to break a few times and that he had decided to do one more run because traffic volumes were increasing. He continued by saying his four-way flashers and the rotating light on top of the front-end loader were in operation, stating that he saw multiple vehicles change lanes as they came off the bridge deck and up the hill towards him.

“I knew he was going to hit me as it looked like he was looking at his windshield wipers,” Erickson said of the collision, noting that he was stopped at the time and had just started to try and move forward.

Collision Analyst

As part of the Crown’s evidence, they called Cst. Brent Paxman to the stand as a motor vehicle collision analyst.

He explained that the minivan struck the counter-weight at the back of the front-end loader, driving the front driver-side tire down, and crushing the tire and rim. Paxman told the court that the counterweight went through the windshield of the vehicle and hit Johnston’s head.

Outlining the factors at play, Paxman said that based off a photo provided at the scene about half an hour after the collision, witness statements, and his personal experience from driving Whoop-Up, he believed sun glare likely played a part, calling it “A blinding glare in all three lanes. It’s dangerous”

He added that people tend to become complacent when travelling a route they often use, and that it would be fair to say Johnston likely expected traffic to be moving at a much faster pace and did not expect another vehicle to be moving slowly or stopped in his path. Continuing, he said that based on normal human reaction times and when the brakes were applied, Johnston likely perceived the danger about two-point five seconds, or 50 to 55 metres, before the collision.

“[Johnston] didn’t perceive the threat until it was too late,” Paxman concluded.

As part of Paxman’s testimony, he also told the court that based on information provided by the city from sensors in Whoop-Up Drive, 1303 vehicles travelled west-bound over the roadway between 3 and 4 p.m. that afternoon.

The trial is set to resume Tuesday morning with cross-examination of Paxman by the defence.