Treacherous roads caused by the inclement weather is making for busy and often frustrating times for RCMP traffic units in North District area.
Sgt. Pat McTiernan said Monday the worst may be yet to come with rain reported in the McBride area and both rain and snow falling in Quesnel.
"Highway conditions are very poor and the forecast is for a cooling-off period with another 15 centimetres of snow predicted Wednesday in the Prince George area," said McTiernan.
"We're going through a weather event that can fluctuate from -25C to zero, and that plays havoc with road conditions."
McTiernan said the main problems police notice are drivers going too fast for road conditions, poor visibility due to snow or frost-covered windows and invisible tail and brake lights due to snow cover.
"We had a driver going 134 km/h on ice. Where's the common sense in that?" he said.
"By law vehicle windows need to be clear at all times and drivers need to be aware of the snow squalls they create behind them.
"That loose snow covers their tail, brake and night lights which need to be cleared off so the vehicles behind them can see them and what they are doing."
His main message is that those who do not have to be on the road should stay off it, and those who must travel need to drive with caution and be prepared with blankets, emergency equipment, water and food in cases of waiting for emergency crews when stuck or delayed due to road-closing incidents.
"If someone goes off the road, it could be hours before they can get pulled out," he said.
Highway 97 North was closed to traffic Monday due to a Sunday avalanche in the Pine Pass about 70 kilometres north of the Mackenzie turn off. No one was caught in the slide (see related story). The highway was reopened late Monday.
Travel advisories were issued for blowing snow on Highway 97 north of Prince George and in the Fort St. John area, as well as on Highway 19 in the Tumbler Ridge area. Blowing snow and freezing rain advisories were issued for the Prince Rupert and Terrace areas. Freezing rain advisories were posted for Kitimat and south of Tete Jaune. A blowing snow advisory was also issued for Highway 37 in northwest B.C.
The Ministry of Transportation advised anyone travelling to check www.drivebc.ca for up-to-date conditions.
The weather had claimed victims over the weekend in the area.
A collision north of Fort St. John on Sunday afternoon killed two Fort St. John residents.
Three vehicles were involved in the crash that happened during a heavy snowfall and blowing-snow conditions.
A tractor-trailer rig rear-ended a small sedan, which spun into the path of a southbound utility truck. Two Fort St. John men, aged 60 and 46, were killed. The Alaska Highway was closed for about four hours during the investigation.
A male driver was also killed last Friday in a head-on collision near Chetwynd involving two pick-up trucks.
On Friday Jan. 14 at 9:30 a.m., Burns Lake RCMP responded to a two-vehicle accident on Highway 16 near the entrance to the Babine Mill. A westbound one-ton welding and service truck had driven into the rear of a semi trailer carrying wood chips as the semi was about to turn off the highway.
The driver of the service truck was trapped inside and receiving multiple fractures to his lower extremities.
Burns Lake EHS and the Burns Lake Fire and rescue attended to extract the injured driver from the vehicle. The driver was later taken to Prince George to receive further medical treatment.
The highway was closed for several hours in order for rescue and EHS to extract the driver.
And initial investigation indicates that the driver of the service truck was driving too fast for road conditions. Charges are pending against the 37-year-old male service truck driver who is from Telkwa.
Later that day, another collision took a man's like on Highway 16 near Valemount.
On Friday, Jan. 14, 59-year-old Larry Bassaraba was driving his his propane truck when it collided with two trucks near Yellowhead Lake.
Police say the westbound propane truck first sideswiped an eastbound tractor trailer unit on the passenger side, then collided head-on with a second eastbound tractor trailer unit.
Bassaraba was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the sideswiped unit was treated in Jasper with only minor injuries.
The driver of the tractor trailer unit hit head on sustained serious injuries and was taken to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.
A collision reconstructionist from Kamloops, three additional RCMP from Prince George, and commercial vehicle standards and enforcement personnel attended the scene.
When it was determined the propane tank was loaded, an emergency crew was dispatched to the scene by Transport Canada's dangerous goods division, CANUTEC, in consultation with Superior Propane.
The situation was further complicated by extreme cold weather and strong blowing winds.
The highway was closed for about 24 hours. A number of investigative protocols will be examined to establish all contributing factors in the collision.
Anyone with information relating to the accident is asked to call the Valemount RCMP detachment at 250-566-4466.
Early Monday RCMP attended a two-vehicle collision on the Highway 97 North near the Hart Wheel Inn restaurant between a minivan and a snow plow. The minivan driver was taken to UHNBC with non-life threatening injuries.
Police remind drivers to take extra precaution when near snow removal equipment.
