RCMP: Out-of-towners cause traffic accidents
By Erin Perkins
Several car accidents involving out-of-town drivers occured over the holiday season. The first was on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 2:37 p.m. when a Ford Explorer being driven by a visiting woman driver rolled three times down an embankment five kilometres east of Christina Lake on Highway 3. The vehicle hit some slush and the driver lost control. The Ford Explorer lodged into a telephone pole at the bottom of the embankment. The driver was given a driving violation for speeding relative to the road conditions and for not having a valid driver’s license, said Grand Forks RCMP Staff Sergeant Jim Harrison. The driver was sent to hospital where she was checked out and later released with no injuries. The second accident involved two visitors on Friday, Dec. 30 at 11:08 a.m. at the intersection of Hughes Road and Almond Gardens Road in Grand Forks. A male driver in a 2002 Ford Windstar was broadsided by a woman driving a black 2001 Honda Accord east bound on Almond Gardens Road. The woman failed to yield at the intersection to the traffic on Hughes Road, said Harrison. No injuries were reported although the vehicles had to be towed from the scene. The third accident was on Saturday Dec. 31 at 4:50 p.m. on Highway 3 by Sleepy Hollow Road in Grand Forks. The out-of-town driver struck a deer in his 2005 gray Toyota Tundra. The male driver was unhurt but the same cannot be said for the deer, who did not survive the accident. Dog gone A German Shepherd dog was reported missing from a residence on Jasper Ave. in Grand Forks on Tuesday, Dec. 27. The homeowner called the Grand Forks RCMP at 4:13 p.m. that afternoon to report the dog missing and an attempted break and enter to the house. The suspect bent the front door handle but no entry was made and nothing was missing besides the dog, said Harrison. The incident happened sometime between Saturday, Dec. 24 and Monday, Dec. 26, when the complaintent returned home to find the dog missing. Christina Lake vehicle robbed A purse containing credit cards, birth certificates and Canadian passports was stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked on Olsen Road in Christina Lake. The owner reported the incident to Grand Forks RCMP on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 11:30 a.m. but believes the theft happened around Tuesday, Dec. 20. No money was in the purse and there were no indications that the door was locked. “Don’t leave your purse, wallets or other valuables in the car and don’t leave it unlocked,” advises Harrison. One for the drunk tank on New Years New Years Eve was relatively quiet for Grand Forks RCMP except for one drunk reportedly screaming and swearing at a tree at 12:34 a.m. The 37-year-old local man spent the night in the police cell before being formally given a ticket for public intoxication and released the next morning. 2011 service calls down from 2010 RCMP from Christina Lake to Beaverdell responded to 4,417 calls in 2011 which is a slight decrease from 2010, said Harrison. Harrison will be making a formal report to Grand Forks City Council later this month, which will include an analysis of the stats and comparison to previous years. Holiday road checks yield results Road checks conducted throughout the Kootenay / Boundary area over the last month of holiday festivities saw low numbers of problems, said West Kootenay Traffic Services and Integrated Road Safety Unit Sgt. Derrick Dononvan. Nine impaired drivers were apprehended, seven three-day immediate driving prohibitions issued, two 24-hour driving suspensions and three prohibited drivers arrested.
Police noted that the majority of the motorists had a designated driver or took a taxi/transit during the campaign. Police responded to several collisions in the area and one fatal accident on Dec. 17 near the Nancy Green Park on Highway 3, but none involved alcohol.
