Three motorcyclists seriously injured in the same location on Hwy. 3 near the turn-off to Mount Kobau have prompted a warning from the chief of Osoyoos Fire Rescue (OFR). The three motorcycle accidents occurred in two incidents at an ongoing water hazard on Hwy. 3 near the turnoff to Mount Kobau.
On Saturday, July 23 the Osoyoos fire department responded to two calls regarding accidents at exactly the same location and within hours of each other.
These incidents prompted Osoyoos Fire Rescue Chief Corey Kortmeyer to post on social media a warning of the danger to vehicles, particularly motorcyclists.
Kortmeyer told the Times Chronicle that the department received the first call around 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m., less than an hour after they had returned to station.
In the first incident, a motorcyclist was thrown off his bike after hitting a wet patch of road on a sloped curve near the junction of the road to Mount Kobau.
Kortmeyer relates that the victim’s friend on another bike saw his companion’s bike hit the patch of water before swerving back and forth two or three times before the bike crashed into the concrete barrier.
First on the scene, the OFR gave basic medical attention and conducted traffic control while awaiting the B.C. Ambulance Service.
Delayed by nearly 55 minutes, a helicopter evacuation was requested due to the seriousness of the injuries, but it arrived on the scene just as the ambulance arrived.
“The helicopter was circling above but honestly if the helicopter stuck around for another 25 minutes they could have assisted in the second accident,” he notes, ironically given the next incident that was about to unfold.
The second incident occurred at around 2 p.m., only an hour or so after OFR had returned to station. In this incident, two females in what was possibly a party or four bikes were thrown onto the road after rounding the same curve and wet patch.
Kortmeyer noted that the motorcyclists were riding Harley Davidson bikes which are heavy and less maneuverable than other bikes. It’s not clear whether the two female victims who sustained significant injuries were drivers or passengers.
He noted that the motorcyclists were not wearing full body protection which exacerbated their wounds.
Don Urquhart photo
The road issue appears to stem from a natural spring that has been seeping water onto the roadway on the high side of a sloped curve. Local residents who travel that route often have told the Times Chronicle that the problem has existed for quite some time, at least since last year.
The slow but persistent flow of water across the road has created a dangerous situation for vehicles, particularly motorcycles which have less traction on the road than other four-wheeled vehicles, says Kortmeyer. He adds that when turning the emergency response vehicles around they lost traction on the wet spot.
Times Chronicle understands that the contractor for Hwy. 3 maintenance, AIM Roads was contacted by the RCMP following the first incident and was said to be en route but failed to show up at the accident scene before emergency services left the scene.
Kortmeyer notes that in the second incident the ‘slippery when wet’ sign was actually knocked down.
Kortmeyer says it may have just been a ‘perfect storm’ of events – a long-standing flow of water, the first really hot day of the summer and possibly lack of familiarity with the road – that contributed to the accidents, but whatever the case, he notes it’s unusual to have two incidents in the same location only hours apart.
He also highlights that for a four-wheeled vehicle the contact surface on the road is about two credit card widths per tire, while on a motorcycle it’s only half a credit card width. And losing traction on just one wheel on a motorcycle spells disaster.
Since the motorcycle incidents, AIM Roads has added a warning sign in each direction as well as orange cones around the water flow.
The Times Chronicle has made repeated attempts to contact Aim Roads but has not received any reply as of press time.
“I would advise extreme caution for everybody, especially those on motorcycles,” Kortmeyer says. “You can’t have two of these incidents happening back to back without there being an issue,” he adds.
