If we got off our shift on the frozen wastes of Alberta's oil sands, we'd want to get the hell away as fast as possible, but we'd be cautious before hitting 173 mph on the one road leading south, the "death highway."
James Whitney, 33, was arrested immediately after weaving in and out of traffic at 173 mph (279 kph) in a 62 mph (100 kph) zone last Thursday night. Shifts change in the open pit mines north of Fort McMurray on Thursday and Sunday nights, and residents usually stay off the road, which they call the ‘McMurray 500.'
Over the last five years, 46 people died on Alberta's Highway 63, the lone, undivided, two-lane stretch of asphalt leading up to the area's oilsands. Tankers, logging trucks, and trucks carrying massive mining equipment bog down the road and can take up two lanes on their own. Seven died there just last month, and the province's twinning project won't be completed for years.
There's no way we'd top 100 on that highway, but then we're not exhausted after working for days in some remote sub-arctic pit mine.
(Hat tip to WhisperingBomb!)
Photo Credit: Darren Kirby