By Carrie Ivardi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Source: TBNewswatch

The Crown suggested that the accused was accelerating going down the hill on Highway 102 minutes before the collision that took the life of a snowplow driver on Dec. 2, 2022.

In response, Pritam Singh said that he was trying to apply the brakes but his pumping of the brakes did not slow the truck.

Singh took the stand on Tuesday and spoke before the court with the aid of two translators.

He was charged in February 2024 with dangerous operation causing death in relation to the collision involving two tractor-trailers and a snowplow.

Singh testified that he had looked at the speedometer as he climbed the hill that approached the six-degree decline before the curve and the bridge where the collision occurred. He said that going uphill he was driving at 70 or 75 km/hr.

He said he did not see his speed as he went down the hill.

The court heard that Singh is now 36 years old, uneducated, and his family in India are all financially dependent on him. This family includes his mother and father, his wife and their two children, one of whom is deaf without speech.

Singh said he came to Canada on two different occasions: first in 2014, the second time in 2019.

He said his immigration status is that he is a “protected person over here”.

Singh, who resides in Brampton, said he originally came to Canada as a singer in a religious capacity and he was singing in a Sikh temple.

He said he received his truck driver’s license in July of 2022 and that the training to be a transport truck driver was 30 to 35 days in duration.

He said that he was working for A&S at the time of the accident and had been driving transport trucks, as assigned, for about five months prior to the collision.

The court heard testimony about the importance of the circle check that every truck driver is obliged to complete before starting any long-haul assignment.

He said that the night of the collision, he had been driving from Dryden and pulled over at the Petro Pass at Sistonens Corners to wait out the snow. He said that as the snow got lighter, the traffic started moving back onto the road and he decided that he should leave as well.

He said that as he descended that hill, only four minutes after pulling out of the Petro Pass, he looked in his side mirror and observed the trailer swing right, then left. He said when it swung left he was holding his steering wheel “with force.”

He said that everything happened so fast, but that he does recall seeing two signs: one that described the degree of the approaching downhill slope, and the other sign to warn of the upcoming curve in the road.

He said he absolutely does not recall a sign about an upcoming bridge along that stretch of highway.

Closing submissions will be heard in court on Wednesday.

None of the allegations against the accused have been proven in court.