Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Feb 18/02) - The mother of a man injured in an ice road accident near Tuktoyaktuk Feb. 4 says she is outraged police have not laid any charges in the incident.

"If you go through a stop sign, you get a charge," says Anna Mae Fairley. "But if you kill a person and injure another person, no charges are laid? That's absolutely ridiculous."

Fairley's 35-year-old son, Troy Cahoon, was hit by a semi-trailer on a private ice road about 100 kilometres northeast of Tuktoyaktuk near the Japex drilling camp.

He escaped serious injury but his co-worker, 38-year-old Carl Smith, was killed on impact.

The two employees of Gruben's Transport had been working on a snow tractor that was broken down by the side of the road. Their truck was parked nearby. Cahoon has since returned to work and was not available for comment last week.

Fairley says from what her son has told her, the accident should never have happened.

"All the lights were flashing, it was clear, it wasn't windy, it wasn't foggy, and it was a straight piece of road for miles," Fairley says.

Cahoon has no broken bones but he is suffering from flashbacks of the accident, Fairley says.

"My son's a pretty strong kid but he was just sobbing. He says, 'Every time I close my eyes, I see Carl.' The emotional trauma will last him the rest of his life."

Fairley says her family has already contacted a lawyer and is prepared to file a civil suit against the truck driver and the company he was working for, Mullen Trucking.

Calls placed to Mullen Trucking in Edmonton were not returned last week.

Sgt. Brian Winters with the Tuktoyaktuk RCMP says there are unlikely to be any charges against the truck driver. "According to the investigation, the driver of the truck saw an oncoming vehicle. He was approaching the headlights and like any prudent driver, he tried to pass to the right, but that's where the two workers were working. And you don't stop on a dime when you're on the ice road."

Winters says the officers attending did not see any reflectors, flares or safety cones that would have helped the truck driver see where the workers were.

"There's no basis for us to charge the truck driver unless there's something that comes forward that we weren't aware of. It's just a plain unfortunate accident."

The Workers' Compensation Board is still investigating the accident.