Several people were injured in a three-vehicle collision on Highway 3A near Kokanee Marina on Sunday afternoon.
RCMP Cpl. Dave Barnhart of West Kootenay Traffic Services says sometime before 3 p.m. a pick-up truck travelling east toward Balfour failed to slow down for a flagging crew working with a contractor stringing new lines for Shaw.
“The pickup truck didn’t see the stopped traffic and skidded into the rear end of two vehicles,” Barnhart says.
After the truck rear ended the first vehicle, it shot over into the westbound lane and hit the second vehicle.
The highway was closed for at least an hour and 20 minutes.
Barnhart wasn’t sure exactly how many people were hurt, but none of the injuries was life-threatening.
He says the crash remains under investigation, but charges of driving without due care and attention are likely.
He adds the crash had nothing to do with the ongoing paving work on the North Shore.
“Being Sunday the pavers were not working, although there were flaggers because the paving crew occupies a lane.”
Barnhart also noted the West Kootenay has being doing well so far this summer in avoiding fatal crashes compared to the East Kootenay, where there have been several deaths, including a family of four from California struck by a semi-trailer on Highway 93 in Kootenay National Park last Friday.
Witnesses say the trailer unit crossed the centre line and jack-knifed into the path of the family’s van, which then caught fire.