File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Highway Crash

Witness says gruesome collision Sunday east of Kamloops a reminder to ride safely

Jul 6, 2020 | 4:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — A man who witnessed a horrific crash near Monte Creek Sunday (July 5) says paying attention to double-solid highway lines may have prevented the collision.

The crash between a motorcycle and a car took place on Highway 97 near Duck Range Road.

Richard Buff says he and his wife were driving northbound near Barnhartvale Road, on a portion of highway with a double-solid line when they were passed by three motorcyclists.

Ahead, Buff says the motorcyclists were slowed up behind traffic.

“There was a motorhome pulling a car and there was another light grey car behind it,” Buff told CFJC Today. “The motorcycles were just kind of stopped following them and then, as they got going a little bit further, two motorcycles pulled out and passed the car and then the third guy… pulled out last and that’s when he got hit.”

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Buff said the incident happened on another portion of highway with a double-solid line. He described the collision between the motorcycle and an oncoming Ford Fiesta as explosive.

“It was just a huge impact and the guy went flying into the air, just like a rag doll, for about 50 feet.”

When Buff approached the rider to render first aid, he discovered the man’s leg had been severed. Buff and other bystanders cinched a belt as a makeshift tourniquet around the man’s wound before an off-duty nurse arrived and took over.

“Me and another lady went and found the leg in the ditch. I went and grabbed my cooler out of the back of the van and we put the limb on ice in my cooler,” said Buff.

Paramedics with the BC Emergency Health Services arrived a short time later and transported the victim to hospital in critical condition.

Buff says everyone involved was shaken by the incident, including the driver of the car that collided with the rider. He says it’s a grim reminder about riding safely.

“I used to ride a motorcycle, so I was kind of defending the motorcycle riders, like it wasn’t all their fault — but it was a double-solid [where] he pulled out to pass,” said Buff. “All three bikes passed me on double-solids by the Barnhartvale Road turnoff. They were hot-dogging, for sure.”