BC Mayor Questions Why Road Wasn’t Closed Before Fatal Christmas Eve Crash, Given Weather Conditions

Motorists travel on the snow-covered Cambie Bridge as freezing rain falls in Vancouver, on Dec. 23, 2022. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

The mayor of Merritt, B.C., wonders why the Okanagan Connector wasn’t closed on Christmas Eve due to severe weather conditions, after a fatal collision on the highway near the city claimed four lives and injured dozens that day.

The crash involving a passenger bus was reported at roughly 6:14 p.m. on Dec. 24 on the road, known as Highway 97C, according to an RCMP news release. The bus went off the road and rolled onto the passenger side, killing four people and injuring at least 53.

Mayor Mike Goetz said that given the weather conditions, the highway should have been closed as a severe storm that arrived ahead of Christmas Eve had left much of the province and the rest of the country paralyzed.

“I think the contractor should have been a little more proactive on the highway that night and shut that highway down,” Goetz said, CBC News reported on Dec. 29.

“I don’t think that highway should have been opened for public transit at that point in time, because it was just far too dangerous.”

The storm left thousands of people in B.C. without power on Dec. 24 and the following days.

B.C. Transport Minister Rob Fleming said on Dec. 22 that crew members were out preparing for the storm’s arrival, and that several highways “could close at short notice.”

As of Dec. 26, seven of the passengers in the crash were still in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Fleming said on social media.

Fleming said on Dec. 27 that multiple pieces of heavy equipment were out to maintain the road on the day of the accident, and that there was “low precipitation.” He made the remark during a press conference about the crash.

In a statement on Dec. 27, the B.C. RCMP described the road conditions on Christmas Eve to be “fluid, transitioning from clear wet roads to frozen with ice and snow on the road surface due to the time of day (sun setting) and changing weather conditions.”

Police said the investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

Goetz said there might have been a reluctance to close the highway due to concerns about commerce and keeping the traffic flowing.

“I think sometimes there’s a hesitancy because it’s a commerce highway,” he told CBC. “It moves goods, there’s commerce involved with it. It’s all about keeping the commerce flowing, I think, and sometimes that human safety gets lost in that.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.