FILE PHOTO

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement

The province stepped up commercial traffic enforcement north of Kamloops after a fatal collision earlier this month.

Around 100 tickets were handed out to commercial drivers in the past three weeks as the Ministry of Transportation steps up to make the highway corridor safer.

Ministry staff briefed the Thompson Nicola Regional District on their response to the dangerous highway corridor today, Feb. 24.

A ministry staffer said there it lots of speeding happening and if officers see other infractions, tickets are being handed out for "any and all things" they seen on the vehicle in question. That's more tickets than Commercial Safety Vehicle Enforcement officers normally dish out in the area.

Officers were pulled from across the province to increase enforcement along Highway 5, but it's not clear how many or for how long it will continue.

There were 19 collisions on the Highway 5 north stretch near Kamloops since October, and 17 of those involved commercial vehicles, according to ministry staff. Two included fatalities and they were both this past month.

The first claimed one life near McLure on Feb. 2, then another person died Feb. 9 near Barriere after the traffic crackdown began. Both collisions involved commercial trucks.

One regional district director said they should have looked back further than October.

"That's not good information... There's been way more deaths that we need to address," Lower North Thompson director Jill Hayward said. "It's seriously wrong. You guys are doing what's needed to be done, but don't stop doing it when it quiets down because it'll just come back again."

Ministry staff noted the majority of crashes for the past five years were between November and April, but often during dry conditions.

The province is also considering mandatory dashcams for commercial drivers, along with straightening corners and adding more passing lanes. There's also a chance for variable speed limits added to Highway 5 North.

There's no timeline for any of those changes yet.

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