Herbert couple thankful after near-miss with semi

Kelly Leibel said it was a harrowing experience getting sideswiped by a semi Thursday afternoon and he’s thankful no one was seriously hurt.

Leibel and his wife Lisa were travelling from their home in Herbert to Regina when traffic came to a standstill on the Trans-Canada Highway near Chaplin.

Leibel pulled over to the right shoulder and parked behind a semi-trailer and another truck pulled up behind him.

“I looked over into my left-side mirror and I saw a trucker barrelling down the highway. He started jackknifing and the next thing you know, he hit the guy behind me, rear-ended him, and then he sideswiped me and pushed us right over,” he said.

Thankfully, Kelly and his wife weren’t injured.

“We weren’t hurt. We were shaken up, but the truck got damaged quite a bit,” he said. “It was a harrowing experience, that’s for sure.”

Leibel said a jackknifed semi was the reason why traffic was stopped there in the first place.

He said visibility was so poor he couldn’t see 15 feet in front of him.

“Stay off the highway, don’t even attempt it. It’s not worth your life,” Leibel said. “We were thankful that it was just minor damage. It could have been a lot worse.”

Highways across the province were closed Thursday afternoon due to blowing snow, icy sections and accidents. At 5 p.m., the Highway Hotline said highways south of Moose Jaw were closed, as were a couple of the roads south and east of Regina.

The hotline also was telling people not to travel on numerous stretches of road across the province.