Several close calls for drivers along Highway 5A on Dec. 9. Dashcam footage shows a semi truck dangerously passing over double solid lines on a windy stretch of the highway.
Jim Beckett has been a truck driver for 25 years and said that incidents like this are happening more often than they should.
“We have to remember, not just truckers but everyone traveling on the roads to just slow down. We’re all trying our best to get to our destinations,” said Beckett.
Beckett, along with other drivers who witnessed the event contacted Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE). The dangerous driver was later pulled over by CVSE.
Global News reached out to Pease Transportation, the company who owns the truck making the dangerous pass, but we did not receive a response.
Later that day, another driver came nearly head on with a different semi truck who had pulled out to pass over double solid lines on the highway.
“Everyone just needs to take their time. It’s not right what is happening, and it is happening too often,” said Stan Jong, the driver who nearly collided with the semi.
Meanwhile, a video of a commercial truck making another dangerous pass in B.C.’s Interior drew quick condemnation.
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According to the person who posted the video on Dec. 2, the pass happened on a winding, two-lane section of Highway 5A.
The commercial truck, after rounding a corner, passes another semi on a short straight stretch, crossing over a double solid line to do so.
The pass was completed while going up a small hill and just before an oncoming curve.
Highway 5A runs from Kamloops to Princeton, and normally doesn’t draw the volume like the nearby Coquihalla Highway does.
However, with the Coquihalla currently closed because of flood damage, smaller highways in B.C.’s Interior are seeing large increases in commercial traffic.
The post to Twitter drew quick responses from both B.C. Transportation and the B.C. Highway Patrol.
The B.C. Highway Patrol thanked the poster for the video, adding “the words dangerous and unprofessional come to mind. Please don’t sacrifice safety for speed — we get the pressures you are under. B.C. can’t afford long highway closures due to (commercial motor vehicle) crashes Please slow down!”
Meanwhile, B.C. Transportation said that the province’s Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement will be following up.
Last week, three people died in a head-on collision involving two transport trucks on Highway 3. The highway was closed for 16 hours, and, following the fatal crash, B.C. Highway Patrol urged motorists to travel for essential reasons only.
“With the closure of several major routes and only limited or restricted travel on others, it is expected that those highways opened for essential travel will experience an increase in traffic volume generally, and commercial vehicle traffic especially, and this includes Highway 3.”
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