Renewed calls for improvements on Hwy 5 north of Kamloops, B.C., following another fatal crash

In the wake of a number of fatal crashes along Highway 5 north of Kamloops, B.C., last year, municipal leaders and community members are renewing calls for added safety measures.

Three died in a head-on crash south of Barriere, a municipality located about 60 kilometres north of Kamloops, on Dec. 28.

Krista Thomas, who lives in the North Thompson Valley, says she started keeping an informal running count of collisions on the stretch of highway.

Thomas says she has tallied 49 collisions and 15 fatalities in 2023. CBC News has asked RCMP for crash data. 

She said she started tracking collisions after her 19-year-old son Harris was seriously injured in an accident on Highway 5. 

"The highway needs to be upgraded," she told CBC's Daybreak Kamloops. "We need more passing lanes because there's not enough."

Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell attributes the deadly collisions on the stretch of highway north of Kamloops to Valemount to speeding drivers, a lack of traffic enforcement, and a roughly 40-kilometre stretch of the highway that narrows from four lanes to two.

"Those people [who lost their lives] were trying to pass a semi-truck and they ran out of room and this happens quite a lot," he said. "People here are frustrated with the lack of passing lanes."

Another fatal crash took place on Dec. 28 in the Kamloops neighbourhood of Rayleigh. Blackwell said the crash occurred on a four-lane stretch of highway, an area that he says is not considered high risk. 

He is advocating for improved safety measures, including making dashcams mandatory for all commercial vehicles in B.C., saying it would make drivers more accountable and provide evidence when crashes do occur.

Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson agrees. Three people who died in the collision near Barriere were from the central Interior community.

He says it's time the province invests in more infrastructure to make the corridor safer. 

"We just need to keep calling on the province to make the changes until it happens. But so far the we are not satisfied with the response from the province," he said. 

In a statement to CBC News, B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said it's working on several highway improvements "based on discussions with local leaders."

"We have invested $21 million towards several passing lane projects along the Highway 5 corridor, giving motorists more opportunities to safely pass slower-moving traffic," the statement reads. It said passing lanes were installed at Vinsulla, McLure, Darfield, Camp Creek and Chappell Creek between 2015 and 2018. 

The ministry went on to say rumble strips have been installed in addition to other electronic and static curve warning signs along different sections of the Highway 5 corridor, measures that it says "have successfully improved safety along other routes in the province."

Blackwell says more enforcement is needed, adding that there are job vacancies.

"There's a lack of patrol officers on the highway. We want a firm commitment that the RCMP Highway Patrol positions here will be filled," he said.

In its statement, the ministry said it has posted a tender for a pullout 12 kilometres south of Barriere for Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) inspections.

"Increasing traffic on Highway 5 corridor necessitates more commercial vehicle inspections," said the ministry statement. 

It said the project will be completed by the fall.