Today is Tuesday Dec. 9th and the pineapple express is rolling through BC.
I had a trip planned to Chetwynd today.
Warm weather and cold roads roads make for some "interesting" driving conditions. I knew what to expect.
All was well until about 120 km north of town (south of McLeod Lake) when I came across a commercial five-ton cube van resting on its roof in the ditch...not a good sign.
I hope the driver is OK,
I was met by a MacKenzie Fire and Rescue truck saying that the road was closed further up do to another accident with a fatality involved.
I got out of my car and have to admit, the roads were slippery, but this was not a surprise.
I usually leave earlier in the morning to get a head start on the day but today I left at 7:15 am.
I thought I would let the highways guys get a jump on things.
To my dismay, the first highway sanding/work truck (two of them actually) I passed was after I had turned around at the truck accident and was driving back to PG.
The time was 9:15 am. Doing some quick mental math, I would estimate the trucks left the yard at approx. 8 a.m.
The road back to PG was great, all nicely sanded!
We all knew that roads were going to be particularly icy this morning, but I found no sand/gravel or any evidence that salt had been used.
This does not absolve us as drivers about our responsibility to drive according to the weather and road conditions.
The five-ton truck in the ditch skidded off the road and was driving too fast for the road conditions.
My reason for this letter is to ask the question as to "Why this highway was not sanded and/or salted throughout the night?"
We have a limited number of driving days like this and this was definitely one of them. As the road maintenance contractor, you ought to have known what to expect.
A question to which we will never know the answer is "could the fatality south of McLeod Lake have been prevented?"
I have a class 1 license and over the years have driven many on and off highway miles in both vehicles and 18 wheelers.
Maintaining roads can be a nightmare some days, I get it, but we really needed your expertise and excellence today.
As much as I don't want to have to say this, but from what I experienced this morning, your performance today was unacceptable.
Neil Van Caeseele
Prince George
