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Highway 97
UPDATE: Two dead in crash in Vernon; police looking for witnesses
VERNON - Two young women from Kelowna were found dead in a head-on collision with another vehicle on Highway 97 in Vernon, early Sunday morning, and another two people from Armstrong are in hospital, police say. The two vehicles collided near the 27 Street overpass just after midnight Sunday morning, July 12. Cpl. Joseph Leeson...
RCMP following up on torched SUV left on Spallumcheen road
SPALLUMCHEEN - Police are investigating after a vehicle was set on fire just outside of Vernon yesterday. RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says officers were called out around 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 29, to Highway 97 near L&A Crossroad in Spallumcheen where a vehicle had been set on fire. “The vehicle was a Lincoln SUV that...
UPDATE: Highway between Merritt and Spences Bridge reopens following rock slide
MERRITT - The highway between Spences Bridge and Merritt has reopened completely following a rock slide yesterday afternoon. According to Drive B.C., the slide took place around 12 p.m. June 26 on Highway 8, at Voght Street, about 45 kilometres west of Merritt. It originially blocked traffic in both directions about 45 kilometres west of...
Penticton RCMP safety blitz targets motorcycles, commercial and seasonal vehicles
PENTICTON - Drivers on Highway 97 south of Penticton noticed a large police presence at the weigh scales near the junction of Highway 3A today. The scales was the location of a RCMP campaign, June 19, targeting commercial vehicles, motorcycles and anything hauling a trailer. “This is the time of year when things have been...
Kaleden car crash sends one to hospital
KALEDEN – A two-car crash on Highway 97 in Kaleden this afternoon has sent one person to hospital. The Dodge Intrepid turning onto the highway from Lakehill Road was hit by a northbound BMW SUV, according to emergency officials at the scene. The SUV ended up in the ditch. Traffic is getting past the wreckage...
Serious motorcycle crash in Kaleden
KALEDEN – Two people were taken to hospital in serious condition, one was airlifted to Kelowna, following a crash between a motorcycle and a car on Highway 97 south of Penticton this afternoon. Emergency crews were called to the crash at about noon, May 24, when a motorcycle hit a vehicle which was turning left...
Few answers in head-on collision that killed Vernon boy
VERNON - What caused a vehicle carrying a Vernon boy to swerve across Highway 97 a year ago remains a mystery, even with the findings of a coroners report. The May 4, 2014 accident killed Rodney Michael Boring, 14, on a stretch of Highway 97 going through Lake Country. Boring was the passenger in a...
Stickle Road plan back to the drawing board
VERNON - A controversial plan to change the intersection of Stickle Road and Highway 97 has been shelved. Vernon-Monashee MLA Eric Foster says the idea of eliminating lefthand turns from Stickle Road onto the highway has been thrown out, and the Province will come up with a new plan for improving the intersection. “The Transportation...
Emergency personnel respond to traffic accident on Highway 97 in Vernon
VERNON - Emergency crews responded to a collision involving a truck and a motorcycle on a busy Vernon road Friday morning. Witnesses say the accident happened at the bottom of Hospital Hill on Highway 97 in Vernon and a person was seen lying in the roadway. Vernon RCMP confirm there had been an accident between...
HELSTON: Improving Stickle Road needs to be a two-way street
Anyone who’s waited five minutes to make a risky, left-hand break for it off Stickle Road onto Highway 97 towards Vernon knows something needs to change before someone gets killed. Agreeing there’s a problem is the easy part. Finding a solution is where the road rage sets in. Right now, we’ve got the Ministry of...
Dozens of vehicles impounded due to excessive speeding
KELOWNA – In the last two months, more than 50 vehicles were ticketed and impounded for excessive speeding between Kelowna and Vernon. Since March 1, the Kelowna RCMP Integrated Road Safety Unity conducted speed enforcement along the Hwy 97 corridor targeting aggressive drivers travelling more than 40 km/h over the posted speed limit. “Aggressive driving...
Vernon council not happy with provincial government over Stickle Road plan
VERNON - Elected representatives refuse to keep quiet about their concerns around a Ministry of Transportation initiative to modify the Stickle Road intersection at Highway 97 in Vernon. Not only does local government disagree with the plan, which would see the intersection changed to right in, right out only (municipalities want a traffic light instead)...
UPDATE: Legion president injured in Highway 97 crash
KELOWNA – A car crash on Highway 97 near Old Vernon Road in Kelowna this morning seriously injured three people, including two members of the Royal Canadian Legion. Branch 26 president Syd Pratt and member Frank Truman were on their way to a Flag Day event at the Lakeview Memorial Cemetery, Lynda Wachter the Legion's manager...
Median barriers will be installed on dangerous stretch of Highway 97
KELOWNA – A stretch of Hwy 97, notorious for crashes caused when a driver crosses the centre line, will receive nine kilometers of concrete median barriers this summer. The announcement was made Friday, May 8 with plans for phase one to begin this month. The $2.5-million project will start with work between University Way and...
Paving work will impact traffic on Highway 97
VERNON - There will be delays on Highway 97 over the next month as repaving work gets underway. The project is for roughly 30 km of highway resurfacing between Old Vernon Road and Bailey Road. A five kilometer section on Highway 33 from Beaverdell Dump Road to Beaverdell will also be included The $3.8 million...
‘All of a sudden, a friggin’ moose comes out of nowhere and lands on the front of the truck’
KELOWNA - Doug Adams remembers the moose slamming into the hood, then sliding up the windshield, six inches from his face. The impact brought the one-ton diesel truck to an instant standstill. Adams, 56, of Vernon, was the passenger in a truck that collided with an estimated 800 pound moose last Friday, May 1, in...
Child escapes Vernon car crash with minor injuries
VERNON - Two people, one of them a nine-year-old, escaped with minor injuries after their car flipped onto its roof Monday. The accident happened just after 3 p.m. Monday, May 4, at Highway 97 and College Way in Vernon, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said in a release. “The investigation determined the vehicle had been travelling...
Driver gets ticket for nasty crash; highway traffic brought to standstill south of Vernon
VERNON - There were multiple injuries in a Sunday afternoon car accident on Highway 97 south of Vernon, which halted traffic for over two hours, but fortunately no fatalities. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the crash at Bailey Road and Highway 97, which had northbound traffic backed up almost to Oyama, was caused by an...
UPDATE: Highway reopens after crash near Vernon
UPDATE: 7:14 P.M., MAY 3, 2015 The highway has reopened. Drive B.C. notes to expect delays. VERNON - A crash is causing major delays on Highway 97 just south of Vernon Sunday afternoon. According to Drive B.C., the highway is closed in both directions 10 kilometres south of Vernon. There is currently no estimated time...
Province announces major changes to deadly Vernon intersection
VERNON - The Ministry of Transportation has proposed a controversial plan to make the intersection of Stickle Road and Highway 97 in Vernon less dangerous. The $3-million initiative would eliminate risky, left hand turns onto the highway and allow only right hand turns onto Stickle and 97, forcing drivers to take Pleasant Valley Road back...
Province revealing proposed upgrade for dangerous Vernon intersection
VERNON - Members of the public can get more information about proposed changes to a well-used road off Highway 97 on the Swan Lake auto mile tonight. Full details about the Ministry of Transportation’s plan for Stickle Road where it meets Highway 97 have so far been scarce, but government officials intend to unveil the...
Coroner releases findings into fatal Easter crash near Vernon
VERNON - A driver who crossed into the wrong lane on Highway 97 two years ago made no attempt to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle, a coroner’s report into the deaths of three people has found. In her report, Margaret Janzen of the B.C. Coroners Service describes the 2013 Easter Sunday collision that killed Eric...
Speed traps make law breakers see double over the weekend
VERNON - RCMP used a cunning technique to nab speeders along Highway 97 south of Vernon over the weekend. Officers with the traffic section set up two separate speed operations within five kilometres of each other on the highway between Vernon and Winfield on March 14 and 15. Drivers who thought they'd put the pedal...
Speed trap season opens in the Central Okanagan
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - It's getting nice outside and with more drivers leaving their dens for the open road RCMP traffic enforcement operations are ramping up to catch those who drive faster than the posted speed limits. A few hours were spent on the new section of Highway 97 between Oyama and Winfield Sunday afternoon, March...