Fatal Crash On Hwy. 97

[Dizzy1]

yes and has nothing to do with the dangerous preditor ridge (bailys) turn off where there have been many bad accidents

its hardly "near" the preditor turn off

Initial news reports are often inaccurate.

[GordonH]

Bump

http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/139 ... ses-Hwy-97

Its time to put in an underpass at this location.


Added later: should have been done when highway was built.

[danmartin]

When they upgraded this intersection they basically made it a little safer to go south as you now have a short merge lane. What was the idea with spending all that money and leaving the north turn essentially the same. That should have been the major concern as not only do you have to cross two lanes of traffic going south but you have to anticipate the speed of vehicles going north as you try to get up to speed. Anyone that travels this road know that a high percentage of the traffic is speeding, sometimes way more then the limit. It would have been nice to have a lane to pull into to gain some speed and then merge. Not the best but way better then what they built there now.

[Always Sunny]

As someone who travels this road often, I don't understand what makes that intersection exponentially more dangerous than some of the other well-used ones on the highway.

For example, making the left turn to head south off of Crystal Waters Road has similar sight lines. I've made many, many left hand turns out of both places CWR meets the highway (right after the Pelmewash Parkway and the one a ways north). Heck, there aren't even merges if you want to turn right off of CWR (at either location) to head north. Yet I can't recall much happening here in recent years.

Is it impatience? Underestimating the speed of oncoming traffic? Not making your left turn at a speed appropriate for a highway (i.e. not fast enough...unfortunately a common trait I see in the Okanagan).

[jimmy4321]

Considering all that's been done to make that highway safer that intersection stands out as bad. I'm surprised there hasn't been more issues at the entrance of the Vernon landfill for people heading north.

[Glacier]

I think it's the corner. The landfill intersection has a lot of accidents too. I totally agree with GordonH, they should have built the highway right the first time, and really I have to wonder what the barrier was supposed to do (other than make it impossible for backed up traffic to turn around) since the collisions mostly happen at the intersections. Overpasses are long overdue.

[Glacier]

I drove on the highway today, and I think I know what the problem is with this intersection. It is that the corner is banked the wrong way, and that coupled with the fact there are no lines left on the road means that cars easily drift into the turning lane (heading northbound). The turning lane line is worn completely off preciously because so many cars drift into the line on account of the incorrect bank. Whoever designed that road was an idiot.

[goatboy]

Driver of the vehicle that was ticketed was 88 years old. Enough said.

[Hassel99]

Driver of the vehicle that was ticketed was 88 years old. Enough said.

It is not enough said. While I advocate for better screening (of all ages) this corner has caused problems for young and old alike. It blows my mind that we spend a ton of money to make this road safer and they did not address the NEED for dedicated lane north bound for those to turn left on to the highway. Right now you (if following the law) are forced to merge into the fast lane. People clip along at 120kph and "merging" into the fast lane is inherently dangerous. In fact it causes people to panic and slide over to the right lane of traffic at slow speed which often makes things worse before they make them better.

Whoever designed the UPGRADED corner, needs to be fired or sued. All they did too UPGRADE was add a right turn lane southbound which was only a minor part of the over all problem.

[goatboy]

I agree that the intersection itself is a dangerous one, however, this accident probably wouldn't have happened if the driver had not been born 1 year after the Model A was introduced to the world, transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between NY & London and the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup. Yes, a long, long time ago.

[dodgerdodge]

Police have issued the driver of a red Mazda CX-9 a violation ticket for failing to yield, following a serious crash on Highway 97, Sunday.

I assume this means he turned in front of the oncoming vehicle and therefore has nothing to do with banked roads or worn lines just another driver not looking where they are going and causing mayhem.

[Always Sunny]

Police have issued the driver of a red Mazda CX-9 a violation ticket for failing to yield, following a serious crash on Highway 97, Sunday.

I assume this means he turned in front of the oncoming vehicle and therefore has nothing to do with banked roads or worn lines just another driver not looking where they are going and causing mayhem.

I imagine it could also mean that the red Mazda was turning left out of Bailey Road heading north...and struck the black Civic which could have been headed either north or south.

But based on the article description "a red Mazda CX-9 (was) rolling off toward Bailey Road" would suggest what you have, that it was turning left onto Bailey.

[danmartin]

It is not enough said. While I advocate for better screening (of all ages) this corner has caused problems for young and old alike. It blows my mind that we spend a ton of money to make this road safer and they did not address the NEED for dedicated lane north bound for those to turn left on to the highway. Right now you (if following the law) are forced to merge into the fast lane. People clip along at 120kph and "merging" into the fast lane is inherently dangerous. In fact it causes people to panic and slide over to the right lane of traffic at slow speed which often makes things worse before they make them better.

Whoever designed the UPGRADED corner, needs to be fired or sued. All they did too UPGRADE was add a right turn lane southbound which was only a minor part of the over all problem.

This comment is essentially what I wrote yesterday. They did improve the situation somewhat with the short merge lane going south from Bailey Road but the more dangerous left turn is horrible!

[django]

The only thing that's dangerous is the impatient driver making that left turn, don't pull out until it's safe to do so!