Unexpected Danger on Saskatchewan Roads: Driver Pleads Guilty

Do you live in Saskatchewan and wonder who you could be on the road with while driving through your supposedly safe home province? This accident will prove to you that no matter how safe you believe your home to be, there will always be an event so unexpected that it will challenge your beliefs and make you wonder how safe you really are. 

Now you may be wondering, for Saskatchewan, what was the event that made people question the safety of their home province? 

Last February 22, 2016, a Saskatchewan man drove excessively past the speed limit, crashing into the side of a highway intersection that was 8.5 kilometers west of Langham and colliding with a semi. The court looked into the details of this accident and discovered that the car was being driven 137 kilometers per hour, which was about 50 kilometers per hour faster than the average speed limit in Saskatchewan. Shockingly, the car was said to have been driven at 118 kilometers per hour right before the crash took place. Apart from the reckless speeding, the driver – 39 year-old Robert Major – was also said to have been distracted and focused on his phone at the time of the accident when he should have been paying more attention to the road in front of him. Brought about by both the driver’s speeding and lack of attention on the road, the car crashed into a 36,000-kilogram semi that was dragging multiple vehicles into a dealership and caused it to fall all the way into a ditch.

This tragic accident took place under Major’s hands, victimizing a total of five passengers who were in the car with him while he was driving. Even if Major survived, a number of his passengers, none of whom were wearing seatbelts, did not make it out alive. Major’s girlfriend and two of his children (4 years old and 9 years old) sadly passed away. Major’s employee and Major’s nephew were the other passengers in the accident who, fortunately, survived the crash. Although Major’s employee made it out safely, Major’s nephew experienced having both his legs broken in the crash. 

Even if it has been about 6 years since the crash, it is only recently that Robert Major finally pleaded guilty to what he was charged for. In 2019, Major was found guilty on 12 counts of dangerous driving and criminal negligence causing death, which should have landed him seven years in prison. However, Major appealed this decision. The appeal judges then decided that Major’s rights were not infringed when the gadgets that tracked his speed and braking on the night of the accident were obtained without his consent. This was supposed to start another trial but the said trial did not push through as Major decided to plead guilty to his crimes. 

This tragic accident goes to show that no matter how safe you believe Saskatchewan to be, it is always important to take necessary precautions in order to avoid tragedies like this one.