Leon Lafferty was driving down Highway 3 between Behchoko and Yellowknife when a golf ball-sized rock struck his truck.
Left with a cracked windshield, the Behchoko resident and former community chief was angry. It wasn’t the first time he’s encountered spilled rock along the stretch of road.
“It’s dangerous,” Lafferty told NNSL Media. “Somebody could get hit with a rock and have a blowout and have an accident.”
Lafferty said the large rocks left on the road are the result of overfill spills from commercial contractors hauling crushed rock.
He wants the government to do something about it.
“Their loads need to be monitored. Highway patrol is not out there at all. That’s their job.
They should have picked up on it and done something right away but nobody did anything about it,” said Lafferty.
He said he recently came across another driver whose tire was blown out by a large rock on the highway.
Lafferty, who has long had to dodge large rocks en route to his camp on the Stagg River, said he reached out to Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty and the GNWT following the incident.
On Wednesday morning, during a commute to the capital, Lafferty was pleased to see the rocks had been cleaned up — but he wants the years-old issue to be addressed regularly.
If not, an accident, far worse than a costly inconvenience, will happen, said Lafferty.
NNSL Media has reached out to the Department of Infrastructure and is awaiting a reply.