A Grade 11 student from West Kelowna, B.C., died Thursday morning as he rode his motorcycle to school.
“It’s been a very challenging day,” said Kevin Kaardal, superintendent for Central Okanagan Public Schools. “It’s absolutely tragic news, the loss of the life of one our students.”
The collision between the motorcycle and a large commercial truck occurred at around 8:30 a.m. along Highway 97 at Grizzly Road.
Witnesses on scene told Global News the student was riding within the speed limit and doing nothing out of the ordinary at the time of the crash.
They said it’s when he made a lane change that he was squeezed out by the truck in front of him doing the same thing.
The student reportedly hit the meridian and was thrown off the motorcycle.
“The driver of the flatbed truck is fully cooperating with the investigation,” said Sgt. Laura Pollock with the Kelowna RCMP. “They remained on the scene at the time and they are fully cooperating.”
The collision shut down the northbound lanes for much of the day as traffic reconstructionists were brought in to analyze what happened.
“In order to ensure that all the evidence is collected and measurements are completed, the reconstructionist does require a large amount of time in order to ensure it is thoroughly done, ” said Pollock.
The student attended Mt. Boucherie Secondary School where the school district has now deployed its post-critical response team to offer support.
“It involves senior leaders and counsellors and teachers and then we provide supports for both the staff that are impacted directly and students and we will provide that support over the coming days,” Kaardal said.
Traffic was backed up across the community for hours as motorists detoured around the crash site, a site that those who live nearby say is a dangerous section of highway with its fair share of accidents.
“It’s a bad spot. More people can end up dead here if they don’t fix it,” said Thane Nicholson, who lives nearby. “I’d like to see some lights, some crosswalk or something.”
The northbound lanes re-opened just before 4 p.m.