I'l play devil's advocate here. What is the average death toll in your area normally?
Good question. I will answer as best as I can based on the 13-14 years I have lived here and not having access to the specific info.
We do not have a lot of fatalities on our local road system, so when we have 4 in 4 days it is front page news in our weekly papers.
#1): (elderly victim) I have never heard of a fatality on this stretch of straight, open road (Highway 5A, old Merritt/Kamloops Highway, speed limit 90 kph, boarded by open ranch land on each side, good sight lines).
#2): (2 locals) Single car crash on a twisty part of the highway 5A (see above) along Nicola Lake. Recall that there has been a few (2-4?) in the time I have lived here, most into the lake. This was the crash the RCMP believe was a result of racing, so another vehicle involved but not on the scene.
#3): (head-on in construction zone) This is a nasty bit of road, the last piece between Vancouver and Kelowna that is 2 lane. It is about 8 km long, twisty, poor sight lines. We are very happy that they are 4 lane’ing it. It sees about 1 fatality every couple of years. But the bigger issue on the one from last week was that it happened in the construction zone, with a 70 kph speed limit, no passing, lots of stop and wait for construction vehicles. Police are not releasing any info about possible cause but I have been passed in this construction zone, with vehicles on-coming. Luckily the Pathfinder does not mind going "off-road" in the true sense of the word too much
. Lots of complaints to the RCMP (including mine) but not enough resources to patrol. 4 lane’ing will be completed in October
