Lions Bay resident David Tompkins is rallying the provincial government to install concrete barriers along a stretch of the Sea-to-Sky highway following a horrific crash over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, a Mazda travelling southbound lost control on a curve and collided with an oncoming truck. The area where this crash happened has a centre median that is mostly made up of a planted boulevard. Locals arguing for design changes, believe a concrete divider would have better protected the driver.
“We are petitioning to place a concrete barrier along the entire stretch of Lions Bay especially along the curved areas where there’s currently trees and shrubs,” says Tompkins.
Tompkins says the trees and shrubs look nice, but offer no protection. He has written to the province’s Transportation Minister Todd Stone and started an online petition demanding action from the provincial government.
He believes “at this point it seems like the province put aesthetics over safety.”
Concrete barriers may not reduce the frequency of crashes, but as Tompkins argues, it can help prevent a median crash from becoming a median crossover head-on-collision.
The highway is notorious for several fatal collisions and was even nicknamed the “highway of death.”
In November 2013, two University of British Columbia (UBC) students were killed in a head-on-crash just 5 kilometres north of Lions Bay.
READ MORE: Two young women dead after head-on crash on Sea to Sky Highway
Before the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Sea-to-Sky highway underwent a $600-million dollar upgrade meant to widen and straighten parts of the route.
READ MORE: Timeline: The evolution of the 2010 Olympic budget
Currently, the Transportation Ministry says it has no plans to redesign this stretch of highway but adds that in light of the most recent crash and last year’s fatal collision, it is reviewing other possible safety improvements.
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