Four people are dead after a collision on Highway 3 in the southern Interior on Wednesday, and two others are dead following a crash on Highway 1 near Boston Bar on Thursday, the latest in a spate of multiple-fatality crashes in the province in the past week.
RCMP say the Highway 3 crash involving two cars and a tractor-trailer near Becks Road in Keremeos shut the highway for eight hours on Wednesday.
They say four members of the same extended family, all in the same vehicle, were found dead at the scene of the “terrible tragedy” that took place around 11:30 a.m. PT.
B.C. Highway Control said another crash happened around 2 p.m. PT on Thursday near Boston Bar, killing two people. Highway 1 was closed in both directions for around 10 hours after the crash.
RCMP say the causes of both incidents are still under investigation.
The incidents are the latest in a series of crashes in B.C. that have claimed at least 18 lives in the past week.
Four people were killed last Friday in a crash in the West Kootenays on Highway 6; a family of three, including an infant, died in Agassiz on the Lougheed Highway on Tuesday morning;� and another three people died when their vehicle went over an embankment in Wilmer, north of Invermere, on Tuesday night.
Other fatal crashes in the past week include a motorcyclist who died on Golden Ears Way near the Lougheed Highway after losing control of their vehicle on Wednesday night and a woman who died after being ejected from her vehicle on Highway 99 in south Surrey Thursday morning.
On Friday, the B.C. Coroners’ Service said it had received a report of another fatal crash, in Mission on Monday, but would not give further details.
In an interview with CBC’s On the Coast, Insp. Chad Badry with B.C. Highway Patrol called the series of deaths “a tragic trend.”
“It’s really hard on the family, the friends, the first responders … and it’s needless,” he said.
On The Coast6:59Keeping safe on B.C. highways this summer
Insp. Chad Badry with the B.C. Highway Patrol speaks with host Gloria Macarenko about safety tips and best practices on B.C. highways amidst a string of fatal crashes on highways and roads around the province, just in the last week.
According to statistics from ICBC, the provincial Crown corporation that provides vehicle insurance in B.C., there were an average of 284 crash-related fatalities a year between 2018 and 2022, which works out to about five a week.
Badry said the clear summer conditions could be a factor in this week’s crashes, as people may use less caution than they do during adverse weather conditions like snow and rain.
He said regardless of location or conditions, the top causes of collisions are driving while impaired and distracted, both circumstances that are under a motorist’s.control.
Speed was also often a factor, he said, noting he had seen a “culture of speed” along many B.C. highways.
In response to the series of fatal crashes, officers will be out in increased numbers enforcing the rules of the road, he said.
“Obey the posted speed limit, don’t be distracted and drive sober. It’s the same message, regardless,” he said.