COLLINS: Government slow to react to highway fatalities
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LAST WEEKEND, I was shocked to receive a phone call from my sister, advising me that a couple we knew had been killed that morning when their vehicle had collided with a commercial truck on Highway 5 near Little Fort.
I have covered many stories involving accidents on that stretch of highway over my 53 years in Kamloops, but it’s always tougher when it hits close to home. A couple just heading to Clearwater for a visit crashes head-on into a commercial vehicle. Police say their initial investigation indicates the commercial transport vehicle crossed the centre line and ran into the smaller vehicle.
That section of the highway has been studied to death, but relatively little has been done to improve the safety of the route. Ask any of the politicians, first responders or residents up the North Thompson and they will almost all tell you of the dangers of that stretch of road — and of the number of those incidents involving semi-trailers, which is a story for another day.
It is certainly not the only dangerous stretch of road in the province — or even in this area — that needs attention, and to be fair, the government has done some work in some areas. But the number of accidents on that stretch of Highway 5 North can’t be ignored. And it’s time the premier sprinkled a little of his “moon dust” around to put a plan in place that will give residents and travellers both some peace of mind.
