FILE PHOTO

Image Credit: Province of B.C.

“I go up and down B.C. like people go across town to go shopping,” is how Kamloops truck driver Ronn Olsen describes his 34 years of driving.

He has his own transport truck and travels throughout B.C. He cautions anyone thinking of braving the route for holiday travel to think again. In all his years, he said he’s never seen things so bad as they are on Highway 3 while it was the only route open to truckers hauling between the Interior and the Lower Mainland.

Olsen told iNFOnews.ca he had a hard time deciding who was more at fault, the tractor trailer drivers (18s) or those in passenger vehicles (four wheelers).

“It depends, because some of the four wheelers are causing the 18s to have accidents,” he said “Then you’ve got some of the 18s idiots that are causing them themselves. Then you’ve got unsure novice drivers in the four wheelers that are panicking. It’s spread almost even but, I’ve got to say, there’s a lot more dumber 18s out there lately. I’ve got to say that.”

There are tractor trailer drivers who are speeding and passing on blind corners in a desperate effort to get ahead of slow moving vehicles, whether they have 18 wheels or four.

“You’ve got these new drivers coming out taking low wages and they’re trying to get in as many runs as they can in the hours they’re allowed to drive,” Olsen said. “They’re driving these automatic trucks now. They think they’re super truckers and that’s what’s getting people hurt and killed. This younger generation, they need to learn to respect the roads and the conditions and what their abilities are and what the truck’s abilities are and learn to combine those things properly.”

READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Dangerous driving on B.C. highway lands national trucking company in hot water

The RCMP is patrolling the highway and taking trucks off the road if they're not properly equipped or the driver has been on the road too long, Cpl. Mike Halskov of the B.C.Highway Patrol told iNFOnews.ca.

Along with driving too fast, there are harsh winter conditions out there.

"They are required to carry and/or use chains when required," Halskov said. "What we’re seeing out there is a lot of these truckers are inexperienced. They might have chains with them but they’ve never put them on. They don’t know what they’re doing."

Last week, a reported 500 trucks were backed up at the Sunday Summit on Highway 3 because of heavy snow and trucks spinning out, he said.

Halskov estimated there are 3,000 trucks a day on Highway 3, a road that normally is used by very few such rigs.

On the flip side, there are too many non-essential, inexperienced drivers in passenger vehicles, Olsen argued. On one trip he saw a white pickup driving so fast it crashed into the back of a pilot truck, resulting in the highway being closed.

READ MORE: Main B.C. Highway to reopen to essential traffic by Monday after storms

“A mother had a three or four-month-old child in the back seat,” he said. “Traffic was held up for seven hours. She’s only got enough food for two or three hours and no extra clothing. It took a few of us to put stuff together just to keep her going.

“Then you’ve got these kids going back and forth saying: ‘Oh, I’m just going to see friends over the winter.’ Really? You couldn’t have picked a worse time to drive on these highways. And you find out these kids barely have a year or two year’s worth of driving experience, let alone trying to go through Manning Park. That’s just insane.”

He doesn’t understand why people don’t carry emergency kits these days.

Highway 3 is a winding, hilly and mostly two-lane highway that can be challenging at the best of times and conditions can change suddenly through the mountains. The road is riddled with potholes.

On one trip he saw five cars pulled over to replace damaged tires. Drivers were looking for windshield washer fluid so they could see well enough to make it through.

“These highways are not for the faint of heart on a good day,” Olsen said in his Facebook post. “Sending a university student over these roads for Christmas visiting is a huge mistake. Going through there right now to visit someone for the holidays or to go skiing or similar is stupidity at its finest! Roads are a mess and the potholes will swallow a Prius in a second!”

There are checkpoints on either end of the highway that are staffed 24 hours a day, Halskov said. But he could not say if all vehicles are stopped and checked at all times. Those who are turned back as non-essential travellers are in the minority, he said.

Olsen has a different take on the four wheelers who make it through the checkpoints.

“I would say probably 60% of the travel is not essential,” he said. “The other 40, I would say, probably have a viable reason, though they could probably make alternate plans. There might be two or three or five per cent where it’s an actual, actual must.”

So, quite simply, stay home.

“Postpone your Christmas,” Olsen posted. “It may be the best Christmas present you could give them! Make it up to them in January or February once things improve. These roads will only get more insane towards the holidays. Stay safe. Stay off the roads right now.”

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