Police Confirm Multiple Fatal Crash

Monday, December 03, 2007 12:50 PM

Rescue crew members stand near one piece of the passenger vehicle which collided with a tractor trailer. The Tractor Trailer unit is in the ditch on the right side. (photo, opinion250 staff)

Prince George, B.C. - The RCMP have now confirmed five people were killed in a collision on Highway 16 west of Bednesti this morning.

Police have now confirmed, the vehicle the five were in was a Chevy Cavalier . It veered into the lane of a westbound semi. The truck was a transport truck with a flatbed trailer .The driver tried to avoid a collision and put the unit into the ditch, but it was too late. The truck driver is said to be very shaken up but was not physically injured. Police say the car may have been going too fast for road conditions.

The crash occured around 10 this morning, west of Bednesti, on the east side of the hill at Cluculz Lake. Highway 16 remains closed, and Police are not releasing any further information other than to say road conditions are believed to have been a contributing factor.

The highway had not been sanded at the time of the collision.

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Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 12:50 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: silver_ring on December 3 2007 3:13 PM

Wow...no sand or gravel on the road....BIG surprise..someone tell me why this happens EVERY snow fall...Yellowhead's crew doing another fine job?

Posted by: bohemian on December 3 2007 3:17 PM

I hope the truck driver can recover from this tragedy and continue with his career.

Posted by: Jayda on December 3 2007 4:13 PM

It amazes me that by 10:00am there is NO sand on the highway. This is a real tragedy, when will they ever improve this very dangerous stretch of road. With the new port its only going to get worse.

Posted by: northman on December 3 2007 4:32 PM

It doesnt help that hwy 16 was engineered to traffic volumes for the 1960's and 1970's. 6 faitalites on that road in one month.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on December 3 2007 4:42 PM

No sand at 10:00 am?
How the hell did THAT happen???

Posted by: sinster_ca on December 3 2007 4:49 PM

It shouldn't matter whether the roads were sanded or not. Clearly from the picture, the road conditions were very poor, therefore people should be taking that into account while driving!

Posted by: diplomat on December 3 2007 4:54 PM

"The highway had not been sanded at the time of the collision."

That is beyond comprehension and may have well been the reason for the collision.

My condolences to the families of the deceased.

Posted by: red2b on December 3 2007 5:00 PM

Why not send the sand trucks out in near blizzard conditions? It's called winter conditions. How do you expect the sand trucks to go out in a storm, or with in a few hrs. after and be on all the highways at the same time.
And why doesn't the city have every street cleaned yet?

Posted by: silver_ring on December 3 2007 5:21 PM

Hey,red2b....We all know it's 'winter conditions'...and don't you think that the snow trucks should be out in a storm...the rest of us still need to get to WORK..in the same conditions...and as for being 'on all the highways at the same time'...they do have more than one truck do they not?...this same crew was probably still eating breakfast at the resort.

My condolences to the families.....what a horrible way to start the Christmas season.

Posted by: Chadermando on December 3 2007 5:55 PM

We can count on at least a half dozen fatalities every winter on each of the stretches from PG to Vanderhoof, and another half dozen PG to Hixon. A divided highway would save most if not all of those lives lost. It seems an Olympic highway for weekend skiers in Whistler is a higher priority for this government.

Also when that road is closed it costs the mills west of town nearly $10,000 an hour in lost revenue from their chips which then all go to the burner, or production shuts down. The direct cost to the forest industry could easily reach a quarter million dollars for this single accident road closure. That is a cost to our primary industry at a time when it can ill afford those costs. Its a hindrance to our regions ability to compete when we have infrastructure that is not designed for these kinds of circumstances.

That said this is an accident that likely could have happened anyways, but you never know. Last night there was a cavalier heading west rear ending trucks and making unsafe passes, and so it makes one wonder if its the same cavalier returning from the west when this happened....

Posted by: redneck on December 3 2007 6:06 PM

I drive this stretch of road all the time and Vanderhoof looks after there stretch of road very well.You can sure tell when you get into Prince Georges area though as it is always a real mess.This is a very sad day that won't never be forgotten.

Posted by: REALIST on December 3 2007 7:57 PM

I just got off the highway and saw what is left of the car on a flat bed trailer. We had traveled through the very site were the accident happened not ten minutes before. Road conditions were horrendous and there were no signs of any road maintenance crews sanding or plowing. This is what happens when governments privatize vital services needed to maintain our safety. Private companies only consideration is the bottom line. These deaths are on the hands of Yellowhead and those who signed the contract with them. My sincere heartfelt condolences go out to the father who had the grim task of identifying the remains of his family. All British Columbian's should ask themselves if this type of situation is what they voted for.

Posted by: diplomat on December 3 2007 8:03 PM

"It shouldn't matter whether the roads were sanded or not. "

Congratulations! You have just saved the whole province millions of dollars of road maintenance expenses! Let's forget about sanding to improve traction...what a totally novel (if deadly) idea!

Posted by: redneck on December 3 2007 8:18 PM

Well said REALIST

Posted by: Johndeere on December 3 2007 8:29 PM

This is very sad and there is a real issue with the maintenance most of the time on this road but in fairness to the plow truck operators, I drove the road about a half hour before the accident and there were two plow trucks working on the hill.

Posted by: camoose on December 3 2007 8:57 PM

Bottom line--- slow down and drive the conditions.

Posted by: Denial on December 4 2007 8:17 AM

How much sand does it take to stop a car travelling over 100km/hr on icy roads from sliding into the outside lane?
Agree with camoose.

Posted by: justamom on December 4 2007 11:09 AM

Ever been driving down the highway...kids in the car...snowing, blowing, and along comes a transport truck ?...as many the first thing we usually do is slow down..either by coasting or applying brake. Bottom line is the poor woman probably couldnt see..and knew it would only be harder to see once she met the vehicle..she made an attempt but due to road conditions lost control as a result ....This stretch of highway is always bad in these conditions. There are a lot of trees that block light..and create slippery sections...any sand that may have been applied would have probably blown off..or been plowed off, as it had been snowing most of the night and early morning. Its a very unfortunate situation and perhaps there was a nessessary reason for her to be travelling in these conditions.

Posted by: seamutt on December 4 2007 11:41 AM

I think a contributing cause to this accident is being a front wheel drive car. The highway being in very bad condition and most likely with ruts the car starts to slide and a persons first instinct is to let off the gas. When that happens the engine powers down causing a decelerating force to the road via the front wheels and know you are in a spin. A front wheel car may have more traction but a rear wheel drive vehicle will give the average driver more control.

Posted by: metalman on December 4 2007 2:00 PM

Very sad. We should probably not be pointing fingers at the road maintenance people, or questioning her ability to control the car. Tragedy has struck, that is all we need to know.
metalman.