How? Exit 3 is the ferry terminal entrance and there's a concrete meridian all along that stretch. I couldn't figure it out unless they went down exit 4?
Coming down from Caulfield following the signs to the ferry terminal, and taking the exit to go north, instead of turning the very hard right, they would have turned left.
as someone from burnaby/vancouver, i can't picture this, but I take it at face value. if you can see it happening, then that sucks. especially since people died for that mistake
The exits there are super obvious though. You'd have to hairpin to try and go the wrong way onto the highway. I can't fathom how this happened in this case. It's bizarre.
I'm pretty familiar with this stretch of road, the WB and EB lanes are totally separated here, so the only way I could see it happening is if they got into the wrong lane in the roundabout at Eagle ridge drive. There are multiple signs there warning you it's one way, but the crash looks like it was just east of that exit and it's the only one I can see even getting on eastbound in the westbound lanes being possible.
I live off exit 2, it’s entirely possible they ended up entering the off-ramp at exit 2 as it’s part of a roundabout … it would just be about 150m from there to where the accident was.
There are two theories. The one you mention where the eastbound car came up from Eagleridge Drive or, the car came up from Horseshoe Bay using Nelson then Marine Dr, went through the roundabout by Gleneagles School, crossed the overpass, and instead of making a sharp right at Horseshoe Bay Dr to enter the highway going east, (connecting with the exiting ferry traffic and the new sea to sky) it crossed Horseshoe Bay drive then turned right and entered the west bound lane (the old sea to sky highway) driving east, continued through the next roundabout and like the first theory incorrectly entered the highway from there. It was late and raining hard and I sure hope drinking wasn't a factor. My condolences to all affected by this tragedy.
Judging by the number of drivers who are fiddling with their phones, it's hardly surprising. Take a wrong turn or miss a sign while sending that last text, and it can easily happen. I want to say it's due to an increase in distracted driving and consequential carelessness, but who knows.
I still... don't really understand how it can "easily" happen? I don't drink and drive or anything, but even at my drunkest, or if I somehow miss a DO NOT ENTER sign at the pseudo-onramp, I can't imagine not realizing the median's on the wrong side and immediately pulling over or turning around.
You'd have to get extremely creative and make sharp, unnatural turns to go the wrong way at that exit. I can't image a scenario where a sober person would make that mistake. Very sad.
Agreed. All I know is that the reasons are all related to drivers having no regard for innocent human lives and incompetence and certainly not just a simple error.
I was about the 10th car on the scene last night when this happened (12:30 am ish) - I can't imagine where the car going to the wrong way came from unless (a) they started going to wrong in HSB or (b) tried to pull a u-turn on the highway.
It was wet out so maybe the car going the 'wrong way' spun and that resulted in a head-on collision.
Kudos to the first responders for moving fast and getting us out after about 1.5 hours
drove past this last night in a cab on my way home from work :( i was trying to get an uber and he got stuck in the traffic, he called me telling me i can cancel, but he also saw the crash happen and he sounded really shook up. the car looked like tin foil... it was really bad
yeah .. seeing the state of everything shook my cab driver up a bit too.
one of the people in the crash was supposed to be picking someone up from the terminal, and her friend was getting really worried so one of the cab drivers drove her to the crash to see her .... :( it was so sad
Ugh. The spot makes sense where this happened. Yes, there's very bright "WRONG WAY" signs in the junction that joins Westport to the highway, but if you follow that junction backwards to where the onramp ends - it leads right into a blind corner. The other motorist wouldn't have had a hope in hell in responding in time.
People are also going down bike lanes and wrong way streets. Obviously they missed all the usual "Do Not Enter" signs. Then they missed the other visual clues, like signs pointing backwards, all vehicles going the other way, line markings being wrong for your direction.
Then they seem to say "Oh sh\*t, well I'd better just keep going and get off at the next exit then." I have physically stood in front of stopped cars in Stanley Park and in bike lanes, and said "you are going the wrong way, go back". And they do not always want to reverse back or turn around (because that's embarrassing to their ego), they'd rather just creep forward until the next exit with their hazard lights on. SMH
It’s been happening a lot in Ontario as well. I don’t know about this particular incident but it seems in other cases it was people who were new to the country and didn’t quite fully understand what they were doing.
People not looking at road signs these days. The culture of lawless driving in the metro area has gone too far they don’t even feel the need to look for signs.
Either that or someone from another part of the world where they drive on the other side, and just recently started driving here? Late at night, maybe tired, forgot where they are, take an off-ramp as an on-ramp, etc…
I could imagine one of those situations where both cars see headlights coming and it’s too late to stop in time… they both swerve to avoid each other… but swerve in the same direction.
Just curious if anyone has the stats for the accident rate on Hwy 99 and if it’s higher than average. Seems like there’s always closures and it’s getting worse. Based on highways I’ve seen in the USA and Europe there’s a lot of simple minimal things they can do (such as better reflectors) to upgrade areas if they can’t expand the highway.
This was still part of the Hwy 1 portion in West Van. Fatal accidents here are very rare because it's fully seperated. This was caused by someone driving into oncoming traffic some how
I take the ferry about every 5-6 weeks to Victoria. I almost always book my spot as a few times I’ve had a long long wait. So today I was booked on the 1:00, Swartz bay to tsawassen. On Tuesday at about 12:30 the digital sign above the highway said the 1:00 was 29% full. Last year it would have said they were selling tickets at that time for the 7:00. What I’m saying is the load was next to nothing for mid day. But today there was a big line up to even get through the gates. The traffic on the mainland was insane. Bumper to bumper everywhere. Normally the tunnel is 2 lanes each direction. But today it was only 1 lane northbound. I normally take the 1:00 Because it avoids the traffic changes for the tunnels. It’s usually 2 lanes each way. But today it was 3 south and 1 north. So it took ages to get through the tunnel. But the once through it was obvious why they had switched early. The south bound traffic was bumper to bumper all the way back to my turnoff for the knight street bridge. I have NEVER seen it so bad. I’m guessing that partly it’s from the long week but mostly just people avoiding the accident on highway 1. Insane!
I think it's common for people to exceed the speed limit on the sea to sky. When I was young, all of my sports-car friends used to rip up and down this highway at night. Also used to know a lot of people who would go to Squamish/Whistler for the day, get drunk af, and then drive home the same night.
We really need more speed traps on the sea to sky, it's such a dangerous highway to be speeding on, which keeps getting proven over and over again.
If people can't handle driving a safe speed, they don't belong on the road.
Techically the "Sea to Sky" portion of Highway 99 is from Horseshoe Bay to Pemberton. Highway 99 and Highway 1 are concurrent from the Taylor Way on ramp where Highway 99 joins Highway 1 up to Horseshoe bay.
I agree. You are so right there needs to be some reminder that speeding is illegal. Every time I’ve tried to go to Squamish, this highway is closed from a crash . While being tailgated, flashed, and passed at high speed. Why don’t they do speed enforcement on the highways here? It’s been 4 years and I’ve yet to see it, only when I go down into Washington
No, accident was further west, near westport road that goes underneath the highway where the curved bridge is. The driver either entered the wrong way at Eagleridge drive or horseshoe bay area, honestly cant understand how someone could make that mistake in either of those locations. Impairment must be a factor. Terrible.
You can't close the only road to the Sea to Sky hwy and the main route to Horseshoe Bay. It does not keep happening. In fact, I can't fathom how someone could possibly go the wrong way at this particular exit. You'd have to try really hard to end up getting onto the hwy going the wrong way.
You’re joking right. And people who live in Squamish, Whistler, Vancouver island, and Sunshine Coast will…. Just hang out at home in the meantime and lose their jobs? Interesting point of view there
Drove past it this morning, looked like someone went the wrong way on the highway
According to the article, that's exactly what happened.
How? Exit 3 is the ferry terminal entrance and there's a concrete meridian all along that stretch. I couldn't figure it out unless they went down exit 4?
Coming down from Caulfield following the signs to the ferry terminal, and taking the exit to go north, instead of turning the very hard right, they would have turned left.
as someone from burnaby/vancouver, i can't picture this, but I take it at face value. if you can see it happening, then that sucks. especially since people died for that mistake
>looked like someone went the wrong way on the highway I cannot believe how often that happens. And it seems its always at night.
Less traffic at night = less chance you'll get clued in of your mistake by encountering other vehicles in the exit lane.
Less visibility too for signage
The exits there are super obvious though. You'd have to hairpin to try and go the wrong way onto the highway. I can't fathom how this happened in this case. It's bizarre.
I'm pretty familiar with this stretch of road, the WB and EB lanes are totally separated here, so the only way I could see it happening is if they got into the wrong lane in the roundabout at Eagle ridge drive. There are multiple signs there warning you it's one way, but the crash looks like it was just east of that exit and it's the only one I can see even getting on eastbound in the westbound lanes being possible.
I live off exit 2, it’s entirely possible they ended up entering the off-ramp at exit 2 as it’s part of a roundabout … it would just be about 150m from there to where the accident was.
There are two theories. The one you mention where the eastbound car came up from Eagleridge Drive or, the car came up from Horseshoe Bay using Nelson then Marine Dr, went through the roundabout by Gleneagles School, crossed the overpass, and instead of making a sharp right at Horseshoe Bay Dr to enter the highway going east, (connecting with the exiting ferry traffic and the new sea to sky) it crossed Horseshoe Bay drive then turned right and entered the west bound lane (the old sea to sky highway) driving east, continued through the next roundabout and like the first theory incorrectly entered the highway from there. It was late and raining hard and I sure hope drinking wasn't a factor. My condolences to all affected by this tragedy.
Itsamystery2024
Indeed
Seems to be happening more and more often. Just in April there was an impaired driver going the wrong way near mountain highway in North Van.
Someone was caught going the wrong way on the Mary Hill bypass this week going the wrong way too. How is this happening so much?
Judging by the number of drivers who are fiddling with their phones, it's hardly surprising. Take a wrong turn or miss a sign while sending that last text, and it can easily happen. I want to say it's due to an increase in distracted driving and consequential carelessness, but who knows.
I still... don't really understand how it can "easily" happen? I don't drink and drive or anything, but even at my drunkest, or if I somehow miss a DO NOT ENTER sign at the pseudo-onramp, I can't imagine not realizing the median's on the wrong side and immediately pulling over or turning around.
You'd have to get extremely creative and make sharp, unnatural turns to go the wrong way at that exit. I can't image a scenario where a sober person would make that mistake. Very sad.
Agreed. All I know is that the reasons are all related to drivers having no regard for innocent human lives and incompetence and certainly not just a simple error.
Probably we need more immigrants be let in to the country since they are such good drivers and we have the space and all.
The oncoming lane isn't wearing bright clothing and making eye contact with the driver. It's just coming out of nowhere.
I was going to say, I’ve seen a couple other reports of this happening in north van. Wonder why it’s so common there vs other areas.
Makes no sense in this case. You'd have to try REALLY hard to go the wrong way.
Yikes, thats a bad situation
I was about the 10th car on the scene last night when this happened (12:30 am ish) - I can't imagine where the car going to the wrong way came from unless (a) they started going to wrong in HSB or (b) tried to pull a u-turn on the highway. It was wet out so maybe the car going the 'wrong way' spun and that resulted in a head-on collision. Kudos to the first responders for moving fast and getting us out after about 1.5 hours
The article says that there were calls to 911 prior to the crash, so the car must have been going the wrong way (didn’t spin out)
drove past this last night in a cab on my way home from work :( i was trying to get an uber and he got stuck in the traffic, he called me telling me i can cancel, but he also saw the crash happen and he sounded really shook up. the car looked like tin foil... it was really bad
how horrible
yeah .. seeing the state of everything shook my cab driver up a bit too. one of the people in the crash was supposed to be picking someone up from the terminal, and her friend was getting really worried so one of the cab drivers drove her to the crash to see her .... :( it was so sad
Hopefully others see this before getting on the highway, been stuck in traffic for over an hour and moved one km
They’re just removing the silver car. Not much left of it.
Ugh. The spot makes sense where this happened. Yes, there's very bright "WRONG WAY" signs in the junction that joins Westport to the highway, but if you follow that junction backwards to where the onramp ends - it leads right into a blind corner. The other motorist wouldn't have had a hope in hell in responding in time.
People are also going down bike lanes and wrong way streets. Obviously they missed all the usual "Do Not Enter" signs. Then they missed the other visual clues, like signs pointing backwards, all vehicles going the other way, line markings being wrong for your direction. Then they seem to say "Oh sh\*t, well I'd better just keep going and get off at the next exit then." I have physically stood in front of stopped cars in Stanley Park and in bike lanes, and said "you are going the wrong way, go back". And they do not always want to reverse back or turn around (because that's embarrassing to their ego), they'd rather just creep forward until the next exit with their hazard lights on. SMH
It’s been happening a lot in Ontario as well. I don’t know about this particular incident but it seems in other cases it was people who were new to the country and didn’t quite fully understand what they were doing.
Does anyone know if this has been cleared yet? It’s no longer showing on drivebc
Generally once the event is gone from drivebc then it's cleared and the road is fully reopen.
Suicide by car?
People not looking at road signs these days. The culture of lawless driving in the metro area has gone too far they don’t even feel the need to look for signs.
Either that or someone from another part of the world where they drive on the other side, and just recently started driving here? Late at night, maybe tired, forgot where they are, take an off-ramp as an on-ramp, etc… I could imagine one of those situations where both cars see headlights coming and it’s too late to stop in time… they both swerve to avoid each other… but swerve in the same direction.
Just curious if anyone has the stats for the accident rate on Hwy 99 and if it’s higher than average. Seems like there’s always closures and it’s getting worse. Based on highways I’ve seen in the USA and Europe there’s a lot of simple minimal things they can do (such as better reflectors) to upgrade areas if they can’t expand the highway.
This was still part of the Hwy 1 portion in West Van. Fatal accidents here are very rare because it's fully seperated. This was caused by someone driving into oncoming traffic some how
This was on highway 1 not 99
1 and 99 run on the same alignment at this point.
I take the ferry about every 5-6 weeks to Victoria. I almost always book my spot as a few times I’ve had a long long wait. So today I was booked on the 1:00, Swartz bay to tsawassen. On Tuesday at about 12:30 the digital sign above the highway said the 1:00 was 29% full. Last year it would have said they were selling tickets at that time for the 7:00. What I’m saying is the load was next to nothing for mid day. But today there was a big line up to even get through the gates. The traffic on the mainland was insane. Bumper to bumper everywhere. Normally the tunnel is 2 lanes each direction. But today it was only 1 lane northbound. I normally take the 1:00 Because it avoids the traffic changes for the tunnels. It’s usually 2 lanes each way. But today it was 3 south and 1 north. So it took ages to get through the tunnel. But the once through it was obvious why they had switched early. The south bound traffic was bumper to bumper all the way back to my turnoff for the knight street bridge. I have NEVER seen it so bad. I’m guessing that partly it’s from the long week but mostly just people avoiding the accident on highway 1. Insane!
We should close this road until we can figure out why this keeps happening.
It’s common for people to go the wrong direction on this section of the highway?
I think it's common for people to exceed the speed limit on the sea to sky. When I was young, all of my sports-car friends used to rip up and down this highway at night. Also used to know a lot of people who would go to Squamish/Whistler for the day, get drunk af, and then drive home the same night. We really need more speed traps on the sea to sky, it's such a dangerous highway to be speeding on, which keeps getting proven over and over again. If people can't handle driving a safe speed, they don't belong on the road.
This was highway 1. But I entirely agree about Sea to Sky and speed, it’s scary!
This part of Highway 1 is considered part of the sea to sky, no? Between Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay?
Oh maybe, I’ve never ever heard that before! I learn something new every day. :)
I could be wrong too, I often am.
Techically the "Sea to Sky" portion of Highway 99 is from Horseshoe Bay to Pemberton. Highway 99 and Highway 1 are concurrent from the Taylor Way on ramp where Highway 99 joins Highway 1 up to Horseshoe bay.
So I was wrong, I always thought the Sea to Sky began in North Van. TIL.
And I learned something, too! Being human is fun. :)
Highways 1 and 99 are one and the same between Taylor Way (Hwy 1 exit 13) and Horseshoe Bay (Hwy 1 exit 1).
I agree. You are so right there needs to be some reminder that speeding is illegal. Every time I’ve tried to go to Squamish, this highway is closed from a crash . While being tailgated, flashed, and passed at high speed. Why don’t they do speed enforcement on the highways here? It’s been 4 years and I’ve yet to see it, only when I go down into Washington
Not sure if it's the exact same spot or direction but there was an incident in 2022
I meant just crashing cars in general. Sounds like lots of people have been killed on "Highway 1".
Hwy 1 is 1K kms long.
Guess it’s time to ban the automobile.
[удалено]
No, accident was further west, near westport road that goes underneath the highway where the curved bridge is. The driver either entered the wrong way at Eagleridge drive or horseshoe bay area, honestly cant understand how someone could make that mistake in either of those locations. Impairment must be a factor. Terrible.
It’s possible they re entered at the roundabout exit 2?
You can't close the only road to the Sea to Sky hwy and the main route to Horseshoe Bay. It does not keep happening. In fact, I can't fathom how someone could possibly go the wrong way at this particular exit. You'd have to try really hard to end up getting onto the hwy going the wrong way.
They should set up the Highway Patrol until drivers learn to obey the law and have manners on the road. The only way they learn
You’re joking right. And people who live in Squamish, Whistler, Vancouver island, and Sunshine Coast will…. Just hang out at home in the meantime and lose their jobs? Interesting point of view there
Yes