Clearwater RCMP responded to 42 calls for service this past week.
On Thursday, Feb. 9 at approximately 10:45 a.m. Clearwater RCMP were advised of a van spun out on Clearwater Valley Road near Archibald Road in Clearwater. Const. Van Woudenberg was en route when a local man called advising of the same.
Const. Van Woudenberg arrived on scene and noticed a Simpcw pickup, driven by a Kelowna man, had slid backward into a rented Chrysler Pacifica van, driven by a male from Mexico. This incident occurred due to the extremely slippery roads. This was evident as Const. Van Woudenberg started sliding backwards on the roadway and didn’t stop until resting against the ice and snow packed on the side of the road. Const. Van Woudenberg inspected the van tires and found them to be All seasons. VT issued to driver for inadequate tires. Several vehicles were lined up on the road above as there was no traction going down the roadway. Argo road maintenance was called to sand the road. While waiting, a logging truck and trailer, driven by a local man, came around the corner, saw the accident and attempted to stop. The logging truck had chains on but was still unable to stop before hitting Archibald Road, jackknifing across the roadway, blocking both lanes and snapping the air/brake lines to the trailer.
Another local man then came around the corner in his Jeep Cherokee, saw the log truck, and rolled his Jeep over in the ditch, as it had to choose whether to hit the ditch or the truck as he couldn’t stop. No injuries to anyone involved. Argo attended and sanded the roadway. Const. Van Woudenberg got his police car, the van and the SIMPCW truck out. Our local heavy wrecker attended with traffic control and were hauling the logging truck out when Const. Van Woudenberg departed the scene. The local tow company arrived on scene to haul out the Cherokee afterwards. The roadway was shut down while recoveries took place. Collision reports were completed and sent to ICBC. Photos were also obtained and uploaded to the police file.
On Friday, Feb. 10 at 10:05 a.m., Clearwater RCMP received a call from BC Ambulance regarding a vehicle going over a cliff and crashing into a tree north of Blue River, B.C.
BC Ambulance and fire/rescue en route. Const. Van Woudenberg asked Valemount RCMP members to attend as well as they would be much closer. Valemount RCMP attended and confirmed occupants were transported by passerbys into Blue River to the gas station. Const. Van Woudenberg attended and located the occupants all from Alberta. All uninjured and refused assessment by BC Ambulance.
The driver told Const. Van Woudenberg they had been southbound from Edmonton towards Vancouver, had hit ice, lost control, went across the roadway and crashed into the northbound ditch.
Const. Van Woudenberg took the driver back to the vehicle, a white Hyundai Santa Fe, registered to a car rental company, to retrieve their bags and provided phone numbers to the taxi companies in Clearwater and Kamloops as they were going to arrange for a taxi. Santa Fe not towed by police as vehicle was well off the roadway and not blocking traffic.
Police file number provided to rental company for insurance purposes. Nothing suspicious noted about the vehicle or collision.
Sgt. Grant Simpson is the detachment commander of the Clearwater RCMP
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