A six-vehicle collision on Castlegar’s Kinnaird Bridge sent six people to hospital and closed Highway 3 for about six hours Friday, May 3.
The Castlegar Fire Department, RCMP, BC Ambulance and KERPA (Kootenay Emergency Response Physicians Association) all responded to the incident that began around 2:15 p.m.
Fire Chief Sam Lattanzio reports that six vehicles were involved, each one with one occupant. There was also a dog in one of the vehicles.
All six drivers were taken to hospital, some by ambulance and some by personal transportation.
According to police, all of the drivers are expected to recover.
The highway remained closed until after 8 p.m. while RCMP investigated the incident which included the attendance of collision re-constructionist.
“It appears the driver of one of the east-bound vehicles did not anticipate slower moving traffic on the highway and rear ended a vehicle in front of them,” said RCMP Sgt. Monty Taylor in a May 6 statement. “This caused a chain reaction of vehicles being pushed into one another with one of the vehicles being pushed into the opposite lane of traffic causing a head-on collision.”
Police have confirmed that there was a street sweeper on the bridge around the time of the collision.
“Though the slower moving traffic may have been a result of road cleaning/maintenance, drivers need to be attentive to ensure enough space is in front of them to slow down and/or stop,” said Taylor.
Castlegar RCMP are continuing their investigation and are asking anyone with information or dash cam footage pertaining the collision to call the RCMP at (250)365-7721.
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