The 62-year-old man, who is a contract worker, was in the middle of the road clearing debris on Highway 16A near Highway 60 in Parkland County when he was struck by a vehicle. He was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The driver of the vehicle was not injured and remained at the scene. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to RCMP, and investigators are still determining whether charges should be laid. The man was an employee of EMCON, a company that contracts highway maintenance workers in BC, Alberta and Ontario. The company president spoke to CTV News Edmonton about the crash on Tuesday. Frank Rizzado says the worker was removing wooden debris from the median of the highway at the time of the crash. “Here we have one of our employees trying to make it safer for the traveling public and they get hit and injured by one of the members on the road.” He told CTV News the man suffered broken knees and hips, internal organ injuries and a concussion. He remains in critical condition. He has a message for drivers. “We want to say out there to the traveling public that for Christ’s sake, they should slow down,” he said, visibly upset. “Maybe what we should have done was leave the wood on the highway and someone would have been killed. He went out to remove it to make it safer and was hit.” Rizzado says all EMCON trucks are equipped with amber flashing lights. Occupational Health and Safety is investigating.
