Stay Safe on the Roads – Reminder from Northern Health
Prince George, B.C. – “Car crashes are not accidents” says Natasha Thorne, Northern Health’s Regional Nursing Lead for Injury Prevention, “They are preventable”.With plenty of folks on the roads during the holiday season and significant snowfall throughout the Northern Health region, Thorne has issued some reminders.
“Even if the roads look bare, ice can be found in patches and impact your ability to steer or stop” reminds Thorne.
She suggests drivers prepare themselves and their vehicles before heading out. That means checking current road conditions and forecasts, plan your route, and give yourself lots of time. “It’s important to leave at least 4 seconds between you and the vehicle ahead of you and have an emergency plan and equipment with you in case you are stuck on a highway or roads that aren’t easily accessible.”
Having an emergency kit with you is a smart idea says Thorne “To throw an extra emergency blanket into the back seat of your vehicle, some gloves, toques, cell phone charger for your car if you have one. We in the north have long distances of highways where it could take a little bit of time for emergency vehicles, or a tow truck to reach you.”
Snowtires are a must and should bear the mountain or snowflake symbol. They are legal requirements on most northern highways from October 1st to March 31st.
Although the region has already been experiencing winter conditions for some time now, Thorne says the reminder is important “We just thought it was a good opportunity to remind people who are travelling as there is an increase of folks travelling on Northern highways visiting family over the holidays. Traditionally, Northern B.C. does se an increase in crashes starting in October, so we just thought it was a good opportunity to remind people who are travelling.”
Comments
Sorry, but not all crashes are preventable.
How original… $100k a year to cut and paste a memo from the highways ministry. Time for a major admin. budget cut at the NHA.
Who knew there would be snow and icy roads in December? What a great reminder!
Amazing on the comments, equally amazing is the number of unprepared drivers that are on the highways.
As we get long on the tooth, we obviously recognize all that is mentioned. but it is mostly directed to the new drivers, new drivers to the area, and reminders to us old guys.
I get tired of all the “are you aware that the roads are snowy and icy” statemts every time iit snows. Almost makes ya wonder if some people are justifying their jobs. Just like the RCMP, after a big snow fall, remind people that the roads are dicey. You can do all the reminders ya want, but drivers will be drivers. We are in the part of the country where we get routine snowfall. Time to stop chiding the PG people all the time like they are children. What will be will be and hopefully common sense is utilized, otherwise there are consequences.
“what will be will be”….. what if that was your family member that was the victim of some aloof driver, failing to even drive with proper snow tires…. than it is a different tune.
The purpose of the message, is not to inform the educated, it is to inform the uneducated.
The people that should be reading these memos probably won’t read them anyway.
Duffer is right unfortunately.
I do have a question for Northern Health though. You say you want to save lives. Why don’t we have a couple Ambulance helicopters in the central Interior and the north of our province. I’ve been to VGH a number of times in the past few years and you see and hear them landing all the time on top of VGH. In conversations with my Doctor we were both frustrated by the lack of emergency transport for patients from crashes on the highway to
emergency transfers from other hospitals, yet here we sit with nothing.
Could it be that our Coastal Health Authority gobbles up the budget with a bulbous management overload that has not been justified in years?
On another note, I have been led to believe we have a Doctor here in PG who can perform Angiograms, yet we are still sent to Vancouver for what has become a commonplace procedure, at our own cost and time.
Doesn’t our government know that things like this makes people vote the other party in, in hopes they’ll do a better job at understanding the interior and the north are really a part of this province?
And the slap in the face is this story they trot out to be safe on the roads, because you know, it will take time for the ambulance to come and get you, and yes you might die in the hours it takes to get you to the hospital.
Any spare cash the Health Authority may have is diverted to help our fentanyl friends.
Another concerned citizen, obviously.
metalman.
I actually agree with you on this one Griz.
The people of this area are no less important than those in the lower mainland, why DON’T we have an air ambulance helicopter?
There is a group called “HEROES” who have been raising money for the last couple of years; object: to get an air ambulance service started in this area. I guess it would cost a lot of money, to implement, and to maintain.
Too bad that the HEROES movement has to be spearheaded by concerned individuals, when the provincial government could easily make it happen.
The best we can get from the government and Northern Health are reminders and admonishments to “Drive Safe, it may slippery out there on the roads”
metalman.
They don’t need to provide a medical helicopter service, because they know people like you and Grizzly2 will vote for them regardless of how little service they provide to this area.
it is so wonderful to think that government and health officials care so much for us…( choke, gag)
There ate two types of people out there …
those that already know about safety and do it
and then there are those who could careless as rules don’t apply to them.
Drive any road in PG and you will see examples of those within 5 minutes or less.
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