Two Trials Reveal Driver Problems

SASKATOON, SK and SUDBURY, ON (January 18, 2000) — Two separate trials involving heavy-truck drivers yesterday heard evidence of apparent improper conduct that resulted in serious accidents. In Saskatoon, driver Nathan Kletka, 24, pleaded guilty to “driving without due care” in an accident last spring when he struck and killed a police officer who had pulled two other cars over on the highway and was getting out of his cruiser. The trial had determined that Kletka had been driving for at least 14 1/2 hours when the accident occurred … 1 1/2 hours beyond the legal maximum.

In Sudbury, the trial of Peter Sharpe, 39, heard testimony that he lost control of his truck in late-summer 1998 after suffering a coughing fit and then losing consciousness. He was driving a truck loaded with dynamite, and in the ensuing fire after his vehicle crashed into a rockface, the cargo exploded in what has been described as one of the largest explosions ever to occur in Canada. Sharpe was pulled from his vehicle by two passing truckers just before the cargo blew up. He has been charged with dangerous driving.