One Dead In Major Semi Crash On Highway 97 South
Monday, January 28, 2013 @ 3:20 PM
Prince George- One person is dead following a horrific accident on highway 97, North of Hixon, just before 2pm. today.
Two commercial semi’s were involved, along with two pickups. Two other south bound semi’s hit the ditch to avoid the accident.
It happened this way. A north bound semi collided with a south bound semi, that crash took out two pickups and then two more semi’s hit the ditch to avoid the crash scene.
The dead person was the driver of one of the semi’s. The three other drivers were transported by the BC Ambulance Service to the University Hospital of Northern BC for treatment of unknown injuries.
Police are saying that the highway, locally known as Microwave hill, could be closed for between 12 to 14 hours as they try and piece together the crash.
This stretch of highway is three lanes wide and completely covered in lumber and other debris for approximately 200 metres. The highway has been closed since the collision and will likely remain closed into the early hours of the morning. An alternative route around the crash scene has been established and open to alternating passenger vehicle traffic. The detour is 10kms and is pilot car guided so drivers can expect a long wait .
The investigation is continuing. Further details will be released as the investigation progresses.
Comments
That is very sad news :-(
RIP. Watch out there on the roads everyone.
2 semis crashing head on. Do not hear of that too much. One of the drivers must of fell asleep or got distracted.
or something!
That section of the road can be very tricky. The corner at the bottom of microwave leans the wrong way and is notorious for black ice because of shade from the tree’s on one side and the hill on the other.
Either way its a tragic event any my condolences to the families.
From the looks of it, four semis within very close proximity of each other with only 2 pickups involved but likely not a causative factor.
It just seems to me that there are not only a lot of semis on the roads these days but that they are also involved in a lot of crashes.
Again, is there someone responsible for not only watching out for road conditions to make sure that they are safe, but also the general use of the highways. Is the vol;ume of traffic changing and, more specifically, is the mix of vehicles changing?
gus,
Ask anybody who travels these roads regularly, road maintenance has gotten worse and worse each year.
Yes traffic has increased, yes there are allot of transport trucks, and yes there seems to be an ever increasing amount of accidents.
One simple question, what can be done to improve the road conditions?
“From the looks of it, four semis within very close proximity of each other with only 2 pickups involved but likely not a causative factor.”
You’ve seen the accident scene?
Not a factor?
Too little information for me.
Wish the family well, that’s a tough call to get.
Grizzly1,
You are correct, to many assumptions and not enough facts.
There is a picture on an unnamed newspaper from this city, it appears a pickup is right in the middle of the chaos. Was it a mitigating factor? I have no idea. 4 semi’s in close proximity? Once again an assumption by gus. 2 semi’s meeting will always be in close proximity. The 2nd two ditched to avoid the accident, but that could have been a minute or two after the initial incident if they couldnt see around the corner and there was no waring.
All assumptions and frankly lead to no benefit for any of us. Best to wait for facts.
Why do I get this impression that you do not understand what I am talking about.
I was not talking about a stretch of highway in which 2 semis crashed into each other and two others hesded for the ditch to avoid them.
Then I connected that to the frequency of semis on the highways these days purely because I wonder how often we have an accident scene which had 4 semis so close together. On that particular section of highway, the dominant traffic was semis.
What caused the accident? Who knows.
The fact is, according to this report there were 4 semis. You do not believe the report is accurate? There were only three? two? none? all a figment of someone’s imagination?
gus,
There were 2 semi’s and 2 pickups involved in the initial incident by reports. Then there were 2 semi’s which had to take evasive action after the accident to miss the initial incident.
What you fail to take into consideration is that a semi can not stop as quick as a passenger vehicle, the incident was in a low visability situation and around a corner. The semi’s that took the ditch may have been a minute or more behind the initial incident, there many have been 10 passenger vehicles that were able to stop in a quicker manner.
Your basing your “facts” on assumptions. You have no true base line to work with, just your assumptions. Should I say it again, YOUR ASSUMPTIONS.
AAV ….
I am not failing to take anything into account with respect to the cause of the accident.
I am making a very simple observation …. 4 semis .. 2 pickups .. that is a lot of semis in one location …. thus another piece of information I have added to the data bank of there seem to be lot of semis on the road while I am travelling it …. and there seem to be a lot of accidents involving semis on the highway lately ….. compared to the same time period last year, the year before …. and so on.
I am really wondering what is so difficult to understand about that observation. Besides, it is my observation …. and I am asking if anyone with some responsibility about highway safety is observing something similar or not.
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If truck traffic on Highway 16 West is any indicator, the big trucks need to slow down. The highway conditions may not be the best ,but driving to the conditions is paramount. The highway was very icy around Blackwater Rd.this morning but these chip and logging trucks were motoring along like it was the middle of summer with good road conditions. The rest of us could stand a break from tailgating truckers. Gus is right. I too have noticed the many accidents involving trucks lately.
I’m going to call BS on Oldun. Most chip trucks and logging trucks can barely pull the speed limit, if that, from Beverly up to the Blackwater turn off… they couldn’t speed if they wanted to.
From my experience a highway tractor can stop extremely fast and on black ice faster than a car sometimes, just not on a downward side of a hill, then they slide as the weight works against them. I think that is a common denominator… either not slowing enough before the hill, or having to take evasive action on a hill.
How come roads not built wider with cement dividers? Oh right expensive, life cheap.
Seamutt asks: How come roads not built wider with cement dividers?
The highways in and out of PG are basically the same as when they were built/paved 40 to 50 years ago. That is to say; generally two lanes, narrow shoulders.
It was good enough for many years however traffic of all kinds has increased exponentially since, with road widening projects falling far behind. I think you’re right Seamutt, not enough importance is placed on bringing our highways up to a standard befitting current traffic volume. Maybe any improvements contemplated today should consider even higher traffic volumes in the future.
metalman.
I don’t care how many semi or pickups are involved. I just feel awful for the people involved and the poor family of the person who was killed. RIP and thoughts and prayers to everyone..
I feel awful for the people involved as well.
But it is one thing to feel awful once a year or even a couple of times a year.
It seems, however, that it is starting to become all too common, especially with commercial trucks invovled. I am not sure why I am the only one noticing this. ICBC probably has some info on that to either say it is less, the same as, or more than normal. I do not have the stats.
So, rather than just feeling awful, I am suggesting that maybe some action be taken other than feeling awful. That’s all.
I live on the top of that hill, we have our own micro-climate here: it could be raining in Hixon or at the bottom of the hill and snowing at the top. Weâve seen differences of 10-15 degrees! Differences that great are rare but do happen. Unless a person drives that road everyday, you wouldn’t know this. Driving slow works to a point, but that still wouldn’t stop the momentum of a semi no matter how slow youâre driving. Gravity always works against you on a hill. We drive slow down the hill either way, itâs a bad hill. People get pissed off when we do, but they never remember crashes like this: I want to get home alive.
My heart sank for the family when I heard someone died: someoneâs husband is not coming home, someoneâs daddy will never hug his babies again. Their lives are terribly changed forever. Iâm so sorry for your loss, thereâs no explanation that will ever ease that.
gus.
Contact the National Safety Code. They are the governing body for all commercial transportation safety issues.
They have the numbers, the stats and the power. Everything and anything which happens to a commercial vehicle, good or bad, as well as a commercial driver, good or bad is in their possesion. Every time a truck is pulled over, RCMP or DOT, it is recorded and reported. Every time a vehicle is insured, every time it is inspected (MVI) all results go to NSC.
Ask any trucking company what their most important asset is, they will tell you their NSC number.
Thank you B. Fams for putting it into true prospective. A life was lost!
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