All the warning and preparation wil never get through to the idiots.

Invincible, we are invincible!!!!

What the hell? There is no snow sticking on the road! Idiots IMHO

Snow in Prince George ??? What a shock . Took so many by surprise . Who would have ever expected snow in Prince George? . Same story every year . You would figure by now people would realize winter conditions can happen in the blink of an eye . The worst part is that the roads are bare and wet . Scary to think what will happen when the roads start to become slippery.

Cranbrook Hill Rd has been blocked off at Foothills Blvd by a police cruiser since at least 6 pm.Traffic has come down but I’m thinking it’s too slick to drive up.
Take it easy out there.

Seriously??? slow gown people- it is not rocket science!!!

Down* darn auto correct

acrider54, it doesn’t matter if the snow sticks to the road, if it melts, then freezes (which it apparently did), it is then tricky to drive on.

Cranbrook was interesting tonight in that 20 vehicles were stuck half way up the hill with small children for several hours. After multiple calls for a salt/sand truck, people were told not to expect anything and ended up walking home after ditching their vehicles. In spite of multiple warnings the City has increased the grade to over 12% on Cranbrook Hill recently and refuses to give the residents a safe alternative which would access University Way. I certainly hope that such engineering genius does not end in a trgedy.

That money city concill is spending going to China would sure come in handy for a sand truck right now.

OMG I am absolutely stunned. Good lord, people were stuck on Cranbrook hill today? Just where did these 20 come from? I guess the 20 people should secure a hotel room for the duration of the winter, perhaps somewhere flat? There’s plenty to choose from and you *might* be able to make it somewhere, lots of sarcasm intened.

Well thought out billyinpg. It would appear that the RCMP blocked the top of the road off but allowed all the traffic to drive up from the botton for the first two hours. Although I note that you admit to being absolutely stunned and “intended” lots of sarcasm, your incredible wit just leaves me in awe.

I have zero sympathy for people who live here and yet are somehow not prepared for winter weather. I wish they’d stay the hell off the road, because they’re a danger to everyone, not just themselves.

Anyone who still has summer tires on needs a good slap in the face!

Wit and sarcasm aside I’ve lived here for 35 years and driven here for 30. Point being that back in the day alot of us drove on whatever tires we had bald or otherwise. The whatever it is in the ditch in the pic is there for one reason, it’s simply bad driving.

With the advancements we have now there is barely a reason to hit the ditch, that is other than driver error.

Good lord does everyone want the Ministry of whatever to make sure they have nice clean bare and dry heated pavement?

Time for those to own their own crappy driving.

Or would they prefer the Govt. to provide a competent driver for them?

Posted by: Darkride911
“the City has increased the grade to over 12% on Cranbrook Hill”
Really? how did the city make the road grade steeper, do tell.
No offense, but if you live on Cranbrook hill, or any hilly area, or out of the city, the first snowfall should not blindside you, however early in the autumn it may occur. Studded tires would be mandatory, in my view.
We live in the country, YRB does a fair job, but there are times when the road to the highway is, literally, smooth ice. The sanding trucks cannot be there at all hours of the day, conditions change throughout the day, so my wife has studded tires, I have chains. Just common sense.
metalman.

The road conditions last night were terrible. The worst I’ve seen since the big freezing rain event about three years ago.

When cold rain hits a near frozen road it turns to black ice and when that ice is thick enough studed tires won’t even save you. Chains don’t even work on a bare roads with black ice. You need something to bite into and if you don’t have that then you need to have sand on the black ice.

Its no wonder so many vehicles were in the ditch when the roads were like synthetic ice covered with synthetic oil.

I say it is completely unacceptable that YRB once again was not prepared for a late fall ice event. This happens every year in late fall where we have an ice/snow event and YRB is nowhere to be seen.

Out west there were over 3 dozen highway trucks parked on Mud River hill because YRB hadn’t been out their until 5 hours after the ice event started. That is simply unacceptable.

I would guess that the ice event cost ICBC well over a quarter of a million dollars… all because YRB wanted to save a few thousand by not having a road crew on standby. Does someone have to die out there before YRB is held to task for their incompetence?

I think if the ndp agreed to call highway maintenance a failed experiment and go back to a Ministry of Highways road maintenance then they would get a lot of votes from people in rural areas and truck drivers. At least then there would be some accountability.

Even with the new studed winters on last night, it was very ice in spots! Just had to slow down and drive for the condions!

I have logged close to 1,500,000 km in the past 30+ years of driving, It takes less than second of not paying attention and your swapping ends. Sometimes the best tires are not going to keep the shinny side up.

Your travelling 50 mph, its ice with water on top, your coming around the corner. Guess what, the tires just don’t have enough grip to turn 4000 lbs from going a straight line.

1) you have to drive the conditions.
2) Pay attention
3) YRB has to do their job to increase the quality of conditions.

It’s really quite simple to increase the grade on a hill metalman. When the city “repaired” the steepest part of the hill they raised the road bed at the top with about six feet of fill in order to alleviate water and road movement. Voila, a steeper grade accordingly and as per those building it.

By the way, your comment of having proper tires is well taken. Personally I do have studded snow tires, also a 4 wheel drive truck with 400 pounds of weight in the back, so I was not blind to anything. While I appreciate the driving tips, I would not agree that the response of crews we pay to maintain them was “fair”. We seem to go through this every year and a lot of people are seriously injured as a result. It would be appreciated if a few sand/salt trucks were out on the road before disaster strikes since the weather last night had been properly predicted.

Yep it was pretty slick heading west. just slow down, slip it into 4WD, take your time.

well said Darkride911. a bit of preventative work could have kept the hills ice free.

Thank you Darkride, I stand corrected.
They increased the elevation of the road in one area near the top by six feet? That is something I could not have imagined, very surprising. I have to say it does not sound like a wise thing to do in a land where ice and snow are a given for 5 to 6 months of every year. Could they not have gone down six feet and built back up?
My comment about ‘fair’ road maintenance was directed to YRB. In the past, they were terrible at maintaining the side roads, fair on the highway. For the last 2 or 3 winters they have done a better job on the side roads, so I upgraded them to fair from simply bloody awful. Even with better maintenance, the side roads become skating rinks, we find that studded tires plus careful driving works for us.
I wholeheatedly agree about the lacklustre performance from city and yrb road crews in terms of response to early autumn snow and ice events. They are the ones who are blindsided, I guess they don’t listenm to the weather forecasts.
metalman.

Eagleone: “At least then there would be some accountability.” Seriously?? Do you even remember what things were like when the ‘Ministry’ did the work? I do and it was complete joke.
Funny how that nearly all the vehicles off the road were 4x4s. I for one get such a kick out of that. “Got 4×4…invincible!’.

I would like to think that YRB and the City of PG are smart enough to watch weather conditions and then get out there and sand the hills, corners and intersections first. Whoops, included the City in being smart enough. YRB I have faith in; the City, not so much.

For all the Years I worked for BCT all the Vans had only 2 Wheel Drive and Bias Ply Tires and I drove every Country Road from Cluculz to Burns Lake, somehow we made it. Now with better Tires driving in Winter Conditions should be easier providing you buy Snowtires and install them on Rim, you are ready to go if it Snows and take it easy helps.