Skip to content

Two crashes, one fatality

Highway destruction: Two vehicles crash at Balmoral Friday, a motorcyclist is killed in a collision near Tappen Saturday
Balmoral Crash
Driver escapes: First responders discuss the series of events that unfolded at the scene of a two-vehicle collision near Balmoral on the Trans-Canada Highway on Friday

No one was killed in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Balmoral Road Friday afternoon that left one vehicle flipped over in the middle of the highway.

On Saturday night, however, a motorcyclist died in a two-vehicle crash on Highway #1 near Tappen.

RCMP Traffic Services from Revelstoke report the driver of the vehicle that overturned Friday will be charged with failure to yield.

Police say the 2005 black Ford Edge SUV was stopped at the Balmoral intersection, intending to turn left (east), onto the Trans-Canada.

“The black Ford Edge proceeded before it was safe, directly into the path of a westbound 2010 white Ford Edge SUV. The white Ford struck the driver’s side of the black Ford,” states an RCMP news release.

Police say the driver and only occupant of the black vehicle was transported by helicopter to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, with injuries later determined to not be life-threatening.

In the white vehicle, the driver suffered minor injuries and the passenger sustained broken bones. Both were taken to hospital in Salmon Arm.

The highway was closed to traffic for about an hour.

On Saturday, a motorcyclist from Nanaimo was killed after the driver of a car travelling east on Highway #1 lost control and skidded sideways near James Road.

The motorcyclist, heading west, was hit by the passenger side of the car and both vehicles ended up in the ditch.

“A passing nurse and doctor stopped and rendered assistance but, despite their efforts and the efforts of Provincial Ambulance, the operator of the motorcycle, a 39-year-old male from Nanaimo, succumbed to his injuries at the scene,” states a police news release.

The driver and sole occupant of the car, a 34-year-old man from Vancouver, was treated in hospital and released a short time later.

The highway was closed following the collision but reopened about 2:30 Sunday morning.

Police and the BC Coroners Service are both conducting investigations.

 



Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
Read more