Fort Providence a (Feb 04/05) - A combination of powdery snow and a steady stream of semi-trucks has the Department of Transportation warning drivers to slow down and maintain their distance.

Four traffic accidents occurred on Highway 3 between Fort Providence and Rae-Edzo on Jan. 29.

Following one, a Fort Providence woman and a girl had to be medevaced with non-life-threatening injuries. The pick up they were in rear-ended a tanker truck.

About 20 minutes earlier, in the same location, a semi-truck had rolled over into the ditch in the opposite lane. The tanker truck that was rear-ended had slowed down at the site of the first accident, Fort Providence RCMP Const. J-M Sauve explained.

Sauve's counterpart in Rae, Const. Todd Scaplen, responded to two very similar incidents, including one where a girl also had to be medevaced, although she is expected to make a full recovery.

Sauve said stretches of Highway 3 were "like a skating rink" over the weekend and drivers were following too closely, especially in whiteout conditions caused by the large trucks.

"The roads were absolutely treacherous on Saturday," he said. "I hadn't seen the roads quite that bad before. It was just a combination of factors and stuff. I'm very happy there's no fatalities. I thank my prayers for that."

Michael Conway, regional superintendent for the Department of Transportation's north slave division, said 8,000 semi-trucks are re-supplying the NWT's mines between January and March, up 50 per cent from last year. Those trucks can throw a lot of snow into the air making it imperative for other drivers to follow at a safe distance and exercise caution when passing, he warned.

However, Conway expressed surprise at the RCMP's contention that the roads were extremely slippery.

"That's the first we've heard about that," he said. "The RCMP we'd spoken to said traction wasn't really the issue. They said it was more an issue of the snow swirling up behind the trucks."

Conway added that his staff have been performing regular highway maintenance, but hadn't cleared the snow from Highway 3 the night before the accidents because it was less than an inch and "not even enough for the plow trucks to deal with."

Bob Kelly, manager of public affairs for Transportation, said "it was normal winter driving conditions, really."

Christopher Carson, who was travelling from Fort Providence to Yellowknife on Jan. 29 and who saw the aftermath of the accidents, said it was actually a clear day.

"You just can't see past a semi when it's loose snow like that," Carson said.

At the Franklin Channel bridge, he said he encountered a convoy of five big trucks.

"It was like constant (snow) blindness," he said. "You really had to be careful."