Drivers trying to detour traffic jam due to fatal crash near Calgary told to pay

CALGARY – Some drivers caught for nine hours in a traffic jam caused by a fatal crash west of Calgary were told to pay up if they wanted to detour around the scene.

The crash which killed an 86-year-old woman and injured six others shut down the eastbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway on Monday.

Many drivers tried to take a private road on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, but were met by two people demanding $20 to let them pass.

Ken Christensen, tribal administrator with the First Nation, says drivers trying to detour were doing so illegally because reserve members own the property.

He says it doesn’t bother him that people pocketed some money in exchange for letting drivers pass through.

The RCMP says it can’t divert traffic onto a private road, and the Alberta government says the First Nation owns it and can decide who uses it.

“In my opinion, nobody did anything wrong in collecting a toll. Nation members own the reserve and people were illegally, I want to emphasize, illegally were on the reserve, using it as a detour route,” Christensen said.

One member of the First Nation didn’t agree with charging people to go on the road.

“That’s not right. That’s not right to me. It’s just a road. People are trying to get home to where they’re going, that’s it,” said Aaron Two Young Men.

(CTV Calgary)