OK ... have a bit of time ... finally.
The truck went in very close to shore ... bad place to be for one thing ... never go near the shore, up the river nor near the dam. He made a mistake.
Also, Transalta had lowered the water levels which resulted in a "ridge" at the very point where he sunk his truck ... should have been obvious (which I noticed right away and stayed away from on the day before). Of course the lowering of the water "bent" the ice which meant the ice was "broken" at the location where the land/point meets the usual "crack" that forms every year without fail.
To really understand it, I think you had to be there to see it (the video and photo of the truck did not show it) and also have some experience with the ice over a number of years to understand it. There was probably close to a dozen trucks on the west end of the lake before Shawn (we looked for another ramp - none). We checked out the crack near the middle and there was no substantial crack or movement evident and we deemed it safe to cross ... which we did with no cracking sounds etc. and, obviously , without incidence.
So, in summary, the person with the truck simply went far too close to shore (inexperience imho) and through the biggest puddle that was there (that should have been another hint for him! But, whatever ...).
Like I said, there was no way I would have driven where he did.
Also, the fellow (whose brother I know), who put the Land Rover into the lake last spring, went far to the west and up the river ... and broke through, of course. Never go where there is running water! No matter what the temps have been etc., there will be thin ice there.
And, yes, we need to "herd" people on/off the ice to prevent incidents like this due to lack of knowledge ...
I'll run out some time this week to check the ice thickness ... have the auger in my trunk ready to go including a new axe file to sharpen it. Today's cool morning was a promising sign and the rest of the week is not overly warm it looks like so I'm expecting we will be ok for the weekend.....ice thickness does not change much with this weather ... probably still about 18".
R