The dangers on a specific turn on Highway 97, north of McLeese Lake, continues to be prevalent for drivers.
The turn, which is located just before Edmunds Road has been seeing its fair share of accidents and close calls over the years, with the most recent being a vehicle hitting the rear of a trailer.
Member of the McLeese Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Ian Hicks says the vehicle was then torched yesterday morning.
“I got the phone call at 5:00am that a car and a camper trailer were on fire, went there with a fire truck and sure enough, there was a car and camper trailer on fire,” says Hicks
“but that same car and camper had been there in the ditch for upwards of three weeks to a month.”
Hicks says the highway may look nice because it’s smooth and wide, however he says it’s deceptive, because it goes down a good grade of a hill with a turn right after.
He says anyone going around 100 kilometres an hour with any kind of snow or ice, drivers would be at the very limit of their traction.
Hicks added that he’s personally been to around 15 accidents in that area, which involve a lot of semi trucks, and says adding additional signs would be beneficial.
“For the cost of a $400-$500 caution sign, you know, ‘caution, corner ahead’ or ‘slow, corner ahead’.”
“If it’s just a member of the public that didn’t live here or who’s unaware, it might just be that little tip, and they just take their foot off the throttle and have less speed, they negotiate the curve without crashing.”
Electoral Area D Director for the Cariboo Regional District, Steve Forseth says he’s not personally aware of the particular corner, but notes that effort can be put in to make improvements.
“We can definitely advocate to the Ministry of Transportation around appropriate signage on rural roads, or in relation to numbered highways like Highway 20 and Highway 97.” says Forseth.
As far as advocacy goes, Forseth says that’s about the limit to the role the CRD, which is to be the voice of the residents, as those concerns are expressed.
My Cariboo Now did reach out to the Ministry of Transportation, which they said the corner is not considered to be a crash-prone location by the ministry.
The Ministry added that traffic engineers have tested the curve and determined that a speed-warning tab was not warranted.
Northbound chevrons are in place to warn motorists of the approaching curve, with signage southbound, that the Ministry said will have field staff checking the corner to ensure they’re in good working order.
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