File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: The answer to the death toll on the Yellowhead remains the same

Jan 3, 2024 | 5:55 AM

A PAIR OF ACCIDENTS on the Yellowhead Highway last week had the mayors of Barriere and Clearwater sounding off again about the need for major upgrades to the stretch between Kamloops and Jasper.

They certainly should be concerned — everybody is — about the death toll on that highway. But let’s keep the issues straight.

One of the fatal accidents was a rollover south of Barriere in which a vehicle went into a ditch. We don’t yet know what caused it — could have been a medical issue with the driver, could have been a distraction, could have been speed. Police investigators often don’t follow up publicly with their findings on those kinds of details and, in fact, it’s sometimes impossible to know.

The other accident is clearer. A car attempted to pass a transport truck and collided head-on with a van coming from the opposite direction. The three people in the sedan were killed.

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None of this makes the accidents any less tragic, not at all, but it would seem to run counter to the usual arguments that if billions were put into improvements to the Yellowhead, the death toll would stop.

As I noted in an editorial last June, that would almost certainly help but it wouldn’t cure the problem. The real answer is with the drivers.

Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer is big on the idea of stricter enforcement. It would help if there was a greater CVSE presence on the highway but it likely wouldn’t have stopped either of last week’s fatal accidents.

Nothing short of a major ghost car presence that would hand out hundreds of tickets a day would convince drivers to acknowledge the need for extreme caution on that highway. The investment needs to target the driving first.

But what remains clear is that, after all these years of lives being lost on the highway, there’s still no comprehensive plan, or commitment, to do anything about it.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.