Deadly weekend for Alberta highways

A 62-year-old Calgary man was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle near Elbow Falls on Monday.

Despite a crackdown on dangerous driving on area highways by the RCMP and other police forces, seven people lost their lives in crashes over the long weekend.

Two people in Edmonton and five others died in separate crashes.

The latest death was a 62-year-old Calgary man who lost control of his motorcycle and hit a guard rail near Elbow Falls.

Police say that neither alcohol nor speed are considered to be factors.

Sheriff Jason Graw says that most people get the message through their campaigns, but there are bound to be people who ignore it.

“I think most people do get the message, you know we’re always going to see people that don’t. Our officers have stopped some people traveling at very high speeds this weekend. We’ve stopped impaired drivers. We’ve stopped people not wearing their seatbelts, we’ve stopped people whose children aren’t wearing their seatbelts. We’ve seen people not being as careful as they should be at rural intersections. We’ve seen people distracted driving. These are all possible factors that lead to serious injury and fatal collisions and these are the things we’re trying to get people to avoid.”

Meanwhile, the family of a young woman killed after a Jeep stunt went wrong on Saturday in Edmonton is still dealing with their loss.

“We’re heartbroken at the loss of our beautiful daughter. We thank everyone for the outpouring of love we received,” a statement issued by John and Mira Green said.

Melinda Green, 20, was attending the Jeep Go Topless event when one of the vehicles hit her following a stunt.

According to several Facebook posts, Green was engaged to Cory Bekkers.

The couple had entered a contest to help pay for the cost of the ceremony, which was planned for the Citadel on May 24, 2014.

In addition to attending numerous crashes, highway patrol officers say they handed out dozens of tickets.

(With files from CTV Edmonton)