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RCMP Release More Info on Investigation of Crash Which Claimed Three Lives

By 250 News

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 03:31 PM

Prince George, B.C. - The Fraser-Fort George Traffic Services Unit and the Burns Lake Detachment have released more information on the events which lead up to a collision  near Beaverly Road which claimed the lives of three Burns Lake teens on July 5th.
 
Police say the Honda carrying the teens was on the Francois Lake Ferry when it docked on the north shore at 7:45 p.m. July 5th.  
 
After the Honda pulled off the Ferry, an employee found beer cans in the area where the car had been parked. At 7:49 p.m. a call was made by one of the ferry employees to the RCMP. In that call, the employee advised a that a black sports car, possibly a Honda, left the ferry and the occupants were heavily intoxicated. No licence plate was obtained.
 
The RCMP Operation Command Centre dispatched the call to a burns Lake officer at 7:57 p.m. The officer, who was on highway 16 west of Burns Lake at the time, started heading in the direction of the Ferry at 8:04 p.m. Patrols were made by the officer for one hour, but the officer did not come across a vehicle fitting the description of the Honda.
 
With a time delay of nearly 20 minutes, a vehicle traveling on highway 35 (Francois Lake Road) could easily arrive in Burns Lake.   Because there was no licence plate provided, the officer had no other “leads” as far as where else to check for the vehicle.
 
That time delay may be the result of a priority call of a domestic assault in progress which was dispatched to other Burns Lake officers.
 
There were no other reports of this vehicle to police until after the collision occurred around 10:43 p.m., nearly 3 hours later.
 
Witnesses interviewed by police say they thought the Honda was driving in excess of 140 kms per hour, that it was passing on the double solid lines, and on the right side of the vehicle.
 
The vehicle crossed the centre line and collided with a pick up truck on Highway 16 at West Beaverly Road. All three occupants of the Honda were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the pickup was taken to hospital where he was treated for non life threatening injuries.

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Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 03:31 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Comment Posted by: lmorg on July 15 2008 7:18 PM
If the report is true, them damm them.
Comment Posted by: billposer on July 15 2008 7:29 PM
I feel sorry for the kids' families and friends, but if the facts are as described, they have only themselves to blame, especially the driver.

In a situation like this, where Burns Lake RCMP were delayed in responding, I wonder why the Fraser Lake Detachment wasn't notified?
Comment Posted by: justamom on July 15 2008 9:10 PM
Alcohol and a fast little honda..just dont mix. Once this little car gets over 30 km per hour the steering system changes to 'positive' or 'armstrong'. Moving the steering wheel more than an inch could result in over steering at 140km. Add alcohol and you've got tragedy.

What a stupid reckless way to die!..

Thankfully no one else was killed as a result. Such a shame.

Comment Posted by: Runner46 on July 15 2008 10:10 PM
Imorg you should be ashamed of yourself!
Comment Posted by: lmorg on July 16 2008 12:23 AM
No way....they're pissed to the gills and driving like lunatics and killed an innocent passenger in a truck and severely injured the driver. If the driver of the honda had survived he/she should have been charged with homicide.
Comment Posted by: taxinapothole on July 16 2008 1:45 AM
Imorg, you aren't even talking about the same accident! Get your facts right!! You have mixed up facts from the Williams Lake crash, with the crash west of PG. Unfortunately, both accidents claimed several lives!! The Williams Lake accident claiming an innocent victim!!
Comment Posted by: metalman on July 16 2008 7:25 AM
bill poser, with all due respect, how could the cops have known that the black Honda would be heading east? That is a stretch, methinks.
metalman.
Comment Posted by: gitterdun on July 16 2008 7:41 AM
How are the the other two victims in the Williams Lake crash not innocent? RCMP have said that there was NOT alcohol involved......but again they were young people. 15 & 22.....I think. Regardless of the circumstances there are a lot of parents and families going through hell right now.
Comment Posted by: ontwin on July 16 2008 9:30 AM
All the articles (this one and the Citizen today) about why other people didn't come forward and report these "erratic" drivers earlier. All the uproar about how this tragedy could have been prevented...blah,blah,blah. Have you ever tried to report something of this nature to the police??By the time your done giving all your personal information and can't answer what the eye colour of the driver is your reporting they tell you "there' not much you can do".Besides with all the erratic drivers in this area that would be a full time job and you'd be on the cell phone driving..another driving no-no.
If the RCMP would have caught up with them and a pursuit entailed resulting in a crash that killed them or others-then you'd be all over the cops for an unsafe chase. If the cops would have manged to arrest them then we'd be hearing how the "slap on the wrist"sentence they got wouldn't have been enough.Where does it end??
Drink,speed,don't wear seatbelts..you die its that easy. No matter how many times you read about,see it on the news or try to educate people.You can't save people from themselves.
Comment Posted by: Andyfreeze on July 16 2008 9:32 AM
Well said ontwin!
Comment Posted by: billposer on July 16 2008 10:04 AM
metalman,

They couldn't know it was going to go east, but they could have notified the RCMP in both directions from Burns Lake. The point is that with the delay it wasn't a good idea to assume that they would find it between the ferry dock and Burns Lake.

ontwin,

In my experience the RCMP respond quite well to reports of erratic drivers. I was once driving south from Little Fort and encountered a vehicle that was swerving all over the place. I called the RCMP, and when I got home had voice mail from the RCMP saying they had pulled it over, found that the driver was too sleepy to drive safely, and got him off the road. They can't do much about people who make the occasional stupid move, but if the behavior is repeated, like wandering all over the road or constantly driving at very high speed or passing over and over again, they can identify the vehicle and do something about it.
Comment Posted by: Quaddin on July 16 2008 10:31 AM
Ugly they can fix but being stupid they can't do much about so you live with it or in this case die with it.
Comment Posted by: barewithme on July 16 2008 1:48 PM
What about the poor truck driver who the 3 teenagers hit? - he must be going thru hell too.
Comment Posted by: lostfaith on July 16 2008 2:31 PM
Billposer, was the sleepy driver charged with impaired driving? Should have been.

I have reported many impaired drivers over the years and have often been told to call the Vanderhoof detachment or call the PG detachment.
I have been a witness in impaired driving cases where the suspect/guilty guy walked because the case took to long.
Comment Posted by: barewithme on July 16 2008 5:16 PM
Your confusing the accident with the Williams Lake one. I am talking about the accident on Hwy 16 West at Beaverly. The driver of the truck was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The three drunk teens drove on his side of the road and hit the truck driver head on as he was on his way home. He never did anything wrong - what I hear is that he is lucky to be alive.