Revelstoke RCMP urge caution after serious Trans Canada crashes

It’s known to be a dangerous stretch of highway and last week the Trans Canada Highway between Revelstoke and Golden lived up to its reputation.

Three serious collisions in the span of just four days claimed three lives and tied up traffic for hours.

A fourth person was killed in a collision involving a motorcycle west of Revelstoke on Wednesday.

On July 17 an Alberta man was killed when, during heavy rain, the dump truck he was driving went off the road hitting a rock face 33 kilometers east of Revelstoke.

Early the next morning a semi jack-knifed on the wet highway in the same area injuring two.

Police have not pinpointed a cause for the pair of crashes in the same location but are warning drivers to watch their speed.

“The area around that is an 80 km recommended speed zone through the s-curves…you need to abide by that sign. It is there to remind you to slow down,” Revelstoke RCMP Cpl. Thomas Blakney said.

Two days later two people from Delta were killed when their vehicle crossed over the center line around 35 km west of Golden.

The resulting head-on collision also sent a family of four from Alberta to hospital.

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Revelstoke’s mayor Gary Sulz said the crashes always create anxiety in the community as residents worry their loved ones may have been impacted.

Beyond educating drivers, Revelstoke’s mayor believes better infrastructure and, in particular, more lane dividers would help prevent the carnage.

“Some of these areas where we keep going back time after time after time to fatal accidents, we need to do better,” Sulz said.

However, Sulz knows the geography of the region doesn’t make that easy.

“We need to have better roads, wider roads and that’s a hard thing when you’ve got a mountain wall on one side and a deep ravine on the other,” Sulz said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We need to have better roads, wider roads and that's a hard thing when you've got a mountain wall on one side and a deep ravine on the other," Sulz said.

The federal and provincial governments are pouring millions into four laning portions the Trans Canada Highway and several current improvement projects between Revelstoke and Golden include adding median barriers.

However, it’s a long highway and upgrading all of it will likely be a lengthy, costly process.

Police are urging drivers to drive defensively, slow down, obey road signs, drive to conditions and ensure their luggage is secured and won’t hit fly into them in a crash.

Blakney said people are often excited to get to their holiday destination and will speed to make up time after they held up by construction.

“Speed kills, we know that, so slow down,” Blakney said.