Men charged in Yukon fatal rollovers

Yukon RCMP have charged two men with impaired driving, in connection with two separate fatal vehicle rollovers late last week.

William Gilbert Johnson, 46, has been charged with impaired driving causing death and other charges in connection with the rollover that occurred around 4 p.m. PT Friday on Chadburn Lake Road in Whitehorse.

Alex Dickson, 40,of Teslin, Yukon, was found unconscious by RCMP and paramedics. Attempts to revive the injured man failed, and Dickson was declared dead at the scene, according to police.

Witnesses reported seeing two other men running into the nearby woods. An RCMP dog team eventually located the men, including Johnson, hiding in the bush about 46 metres from the rollover scene.

Johnson is scheduled to enter a plea next week.

2nd rollover reported

Friday's incident marked the second fatal vehicle rollover on the Yukon's roads within a 24-hour period.

Valentino Vella, 27, of Vancouver was killed when the van he was a passenger in rolled over on the North Klondike Highway, near Pelly Crossing, on Thursday evening.

RCMP say the van, which had a total of six men inside, veered off the highway at a high speed near Jackfish Lake, just south of Pelly Crossing

Five of the six men, including the driver, had been wearing their seatbelts and were not seriously injured. Vella was thrown out of the vehicle and died, according to police.

Christopher John Maxwell-Smith, 25, was charged with impaired driving causing death, along with other related offenses, RCMP stated in a release Monday.

Maxwell-Smith was released on a $500 cash recognizance with conditions, includinga condition that he forfeit his passport.

All six men in the van were construction workers, employed by a British Columbia-based contractor that is refurbishing the Pelly River bridge.

Driving safety highlighted

RCMP say the two recent incidents show that drunk driving is all too prevalent in the territory.

"We have to be vigilant on ensuring that we're doing our job trying to get these people off the road [and] dealt with through the court system," Cpl. Shawn Pollard, head of the Yukon RCMP's traffic unit, told CBC News on Monday.

"We are working hard at it and will continue to do that throughout the year and throughout the Yukon."

Pollard noted that the latest incidents also prove that seatbelts can save lives. In the Pelly Crossing case, the five other men in the van were not seriously injured because they were wearing seatbelts, according to police.

As well, Pollard said no one wasinjured in another weekend rollover on the Robert Campbell Highway north of Carmacks, Yukon, because the three people in that vehicle were all wearing seatbelts.

Impaired driving and other charges are pending against a 35-year-old Whitehorse woman in the Carmacks rollover, which was discovered Saturday morning by an off-duty RCMP officer.