During my youth driving the corridor we now refer to simply as Highway 5 (although then it was more often called the Yellowhead), we learned to drive it with respect, intent and with no technology whatsoever.
Covering this corridor from a hard news perspective this past year has been a serious and dedicated journey. Our own family has experienced the heartbreaking reality of losing loved ones along this highway. Crosses commemorating our nephew, niece, and their unborn baby son stand watch at one of the few large pullouts just before the “Welcome” sign to Wells Gray Country.
In 2012 their vehicle plunged into the river they loved during a whiteout blizzard. I was on the road an hour ahead of them, and to this day have no idea how I made it home to Clearwater. Commercial vehicles behind me, far too close; convoys heading south way too fast for conditions, with blowing snow that blinded me. No safe place to pull off, or that I could see clearly enough in order to park and ride it out. Was experience or memory my guide that wintry night? So many questions about our loved ones will never be answered.
We do know that there were no concrete no-post guardrails there at the time where the accident happened. Would those have stopped the car? In the months following the incident the large, solid concrete barriers were finally installed. I know of one young skier returning from a long day on the slopes at Sun Peaks whose life these exact no-post guard rails saved. He dozed off and his vehicle ended up being stopped by the concrete lifesavers. This is only one example of something that was accomplished to improve safety following the sad loss of life along the highway.
Would sponsored banners through our towns be worthwhile, such as the ones we hang across the roads during the Fall Fair or for Canada Day or May Day? “Slow down, get home alive, drive to conditions.” “Drive like your life depends on it.” “Drive to arrive alive.”
Why isn’t there a major news conference being held here by provincial ministers, discussing the straightforward requests from our local elected officials in the valley who have been working in unison? They have been pleading with the provincial government to allocate funds, earmark key safety projects, and implement quick measures such as mandatory dash cams, which were already approved by a wide majority at last year’s Union of BC Municipalities convention.
I can’t help but ask, as many in the valley have, if anyone in the provincial government actually sees our multiple highway fatalities as more of a priority than untrained commercial drivers. These drivers don’t measure the height of their loads, don’t apply for permits and follow correct routes as specified, or drive without permits in restricted areas. They hit structures and overpasses with overheight or raised bunks and rigging, or haul equipment without ensuring that the bin, box or boom is properly lowered and secured before driving onto a highway.
These types of incidents are absolutely causing expensive damage to infrastructure, and could have easily been avoided if drivers were properly trained and in the habit of using their mirrors and electronic indicators and habitually double-checking the company units. Yes, enforce and increase fines, suspend drivers and vehicles, and hold companies and carriers to account. This type of enforcement should be unilateral across Canada, not just for B.C. commercial drivers.
All we are asking for in the interior of B.C., along this major commercial corridor which is mainly single-lane and in a mountainous area, is equal attention. We need consistent and increased enforcement; the implementation of mandatory dash cams immediately; and consideration for residents, first responders and all drivers of every type of vehicle who have been impacted by the multiple deaths and severe injuries to loved ones, friends, colleagues and neighbours.
Many people who now travel this highway think, as they climb into their cars, trucks, and semis, “Will today be the day?”
Why does the provincial government act swiftly and seriously to enforce new laws about infrastructure damage, but wring their hands about Highway 5? When it comes to multiple fatalities and severe injuries — which includes long-term trauma along this now-notorious Highway 5 — it’s as though they are suddenly deaf to our collective cries for help. We would welcome the ministers to visit us here in the North Thompson to see the areas of concern along Highway 5 at first hand.
How many more crosses and highway memorials will our valley highway collect this year?
