[Dion]

Before the Aldersyde (near Okotoks) overpass was built drivers had to merge onto HW #2 from a secondary road. Many people were killed while trying to merge and as a result the overpass was built

On a cold and snowy November night, myself and my mother were headed to Calgary for a family function. My mother was driving at the time as i had a sprained ankle. As we approached the intersection, she asked me if it was safe to merge. For whatever reason I badly misjudged the headlights of a vehicle coming from the south. As we merged the headlights of a pickup truck were approaching quite rapidly and a collision seemed imminent.

I don't remember much after that except for my mother holding onto the steering wheel and bracing for impact. The truck, for whatever reason doesn't hit the brakes but instead passes on the left hand shoulder (back end fish tailing on the icy shoulder) before merging back onto the highway. About the same time a cattle liner blares his horn as he passes us on the right.

I have no clue as to why the driver passed on the left shoulder. If it had been any other driver I have no doubt there would have been a collision and both of us would have been dead. Had mother swerved to the right line, the cattle liner would have smoked us. Her freezing saved our lives

I still have nightmares about that night and why I said it was safe to merge. Guess it wasn't our time.