After another commute-related crash sent a young boy to the hospital on Tuesday morning, Kamloops Mounties are urging the public to give themselves more time to drive to work and school as construction continues on Overlanders Bridge.
Sgt. Doug Aird from the RCMP’s rural detachment said the latest collision on Halston Avenue occurred at 8 a.m., when a vehicle trying to get into the right lane to turn onto Highway 5 North cut in front of other cars on the road.
Halston is one of the main alternate routes as five months of construction ties up lanes and slows traffic over the bridge, which typically funnels 42,000 vehicles per day between the North and South shores.
With traffic already bumper-to-bumper for the morning commute, Aird said the vehicle cutting into the lane caused a “chain-reaction collision.”
One boy was transported to Royal Inland Hospital by ambulance with head and neck injuries as a result of the crash, and two people in another vehicle also suffered minor injuries as a result of whiplash.
Aird said one truck was totalled in the collision and it took 45 minutes to remove — tying up morning traffic.
It’s not the first time a crash has backed up the Halston connector. There were at least two other major collisions during peak commute times during the first week of bridge construction, and Aird said the rural RCMP unit has investigated more than a half-dozen collisions in the past two weeks.
Mayor Peter Milobar said drivers need to adjust to the realities of the bridge project.
“You’re hearing stories of people trying to zip up on curb lanes and trying to go up farther and cut in aggressively,” he said.
“I think people in Kamloops, we’re fortunate that the last 25 years, this isn’t a daily type of traffic occurrence. But, this isn’t an unusual go to work or post-work traffic flow for most cities and I think we need to come to terms with for the next five months that’s what it’s going to be.”
Milobar said that means adjusting to new routes, leaving more time in the mornings and trying to be patient on the road.
“Really, at this point, it’s up to the travelling public to make things go smooth. We can only do so much with flag people and lanes — and the only way to get this done is to keep working,” he said.
RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller told KTW the city’s traffic unit is planning more enforcement both on Overlanders Bridge, where the speed limit is down to 30 k/hr for the duration of construction, and on alternate routes.
Aird recommends the driving public try to leave earlier for work, make sure they’re leaving enough room between themselves and other cars and stay off electronic devices.
Aird added drivers need to watch their speed as they’re leaving Highway 5 North, noting police are picking up speeders going more than 100 k/hr on Halston Avenue.
The speed limit on that stretch is 70 km/h.
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