Accident Closes Highway 27 north of Vanderhoof
Saturday, July 29, 2017 @ 6:56 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The RCMP are investigating a motor vehicle accident which has shut down all traffic on Highway 27 between Vanderhoof and Fort St. James.While few details are available, Drive BC indicates the accident site is 27.6 kilometres north of the junction with Highway 16, and traffic is blocked in both directions with no detour available.
The accident was reported at 3:10 this morning and resulted in power being knocked out to about 120 BC Hydro customers.
Further details as they become available.
Comments
Closing a road where no detour is available can seriously inconvenience a lot of people. Whenever I hear about a complete closure like this after an accident, I wonder why it is necessary to close the road for so long. I understand that it is desirable to investigate each accident thoroughly, but what is it that takes so long? Presumably, it doesn’t take a long time to photograph the road from a variety of angles, to record the position of debris on the road, and to take samples of any substances such as blood that may be left on the road. What is it that requires closing the road for hours?
If there was a fatality and we hope there wasn’t, the road can be shut down for hours
The road is closed for an investigation and to ensure that everything is done properly and to also ensure the safety of the people cleaning the accident and ensure the safety of the people involved (rcmp, tow truck, etc) it is a burden and am appreciative of the challenges it can cause but I am from fsj and as said above it sucks but I am sure if you knew anyone involved or were involved yourself you would appreciate the due care and attention that needs to be done to make sure all details, causes and questions are answered as best as possible. Enjoy fsj or vanderhoof and the extra hours you have there…..it is a nuisance and we all understand but what other options are there
Good question, good answer.
It’s also about maintaining the scene as it was as close to the time of the incident as possible so no evidence is destroyed by passing vehicles, as well as the survey, collection of evidence. Those traffic incident analysts are incredible, and yes it does take time because you will not have that time again. Bear in mind, police want to get traffic moving again as soon as possible, but with a serious or fatal incident, the families need questions answered as well.
As I said I understand the need to carry out a thorough investigation. I’m just not clear as to why it takes as long as it often does to make the required measurements and take the necessary photographs and samples. I’d be interested to see a breakdown of what they do at an accident scene and how long each part takes.
Perhaps Hydro had to repair downed lines as a result of this accident, so the road would have to be closed for the safety of all.
Billposer, would you still be so inconvenienced by the length of the delay/investigation if it were your loved ones who died in a crash? Would you want impatient people lined up on the highway peeved because your family members are lying in a wreck up the road?
I’m sorry, but all to often on here, people blurt out the verbal diarrhea that is so incredibly one sided.
Try turning on your empathy for once. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes instead of looking through narrow-minded goggles!
Sun, he’s just asking questions, Bill’s not narrow minded at all. Read it again. His posts in the past have always been respectful and he’s well informed in other areas.
Thanks Grizzly. I’m not complaining about the time it takes to extract and care for the injured. Obviously, that takes as long as it takes. I didn’t even mention that. I’m just curious where the time goes in the investigation phase that follows.
This is part of an article from the Vancouver Sun regarding closures on the Sea to Sky. To me it speaks of a Mayor who is out of touch with reality:
Whistler seeks to shorten Sea to Sky Highway closures from accidents
Resort Municipality of Whistler mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden can’t put a dollar value on the cost of such closures — which, depending on the severity and type of accident, can last from three to six hours or even longer — but said they’re seriously hurting the resort’s economy.
“It causes significant economic damage to the resort,” said Wilhelm-Morden, speaking of her plan to improve safety and reduce road closure times. “We’ve only got one road in and out of town (Highway 99), so when there’s closures with major delays it requires additional time for people on the highway.
I don’t know where the time goes in closures of Highway 99, but it is conceivable that response times for extraction and medical care could be decreased by having more teams available and/or based at shorter intervals. Similarly, it is possible that having more investigators available and stationed at shorter intervals might decrease the delay conducting investigations if that is a factor. On roads with heavy traffic the traffic itself can delay response. One clever approach that I have seen is used on the Golden Gate Bridge in California at rush hour. When vehicles break down, they want to get them out of the way as soon as possible so as not to impede traffic, but getting a wrecker to the disabled vehicle can take a long time. So what they do is they have several powerful trucks with special bumpers that circulate constantly at rush hour. When a truck encounters a broken down vehicle, they get the driver to put it in neutral and steer while they push it from behind to the nearest exit.
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