Another flipped truck no surprise

News that another tractor-trailer lost its load on Highway 5A near Stump Lake was no surprise to resident Helen Feinstadt Tuesday.

“I’d say it happens several times a month. If it’s not on one end of the lake, it’s on the other,” said Feinstadt.

RCMP were called 35 kilometres south of Kamloops at about 7 p.m. Monday when a load of asbestos drywall spilled into a roadside ditch.

Const. Pat Nagy said the 58-year-old driver was steering through a series of S turns when one of the chains used to secure the load broke. The load shifted and fell off the trailer.

Nagy said the driver was able to drive his vehicle to a nearby brake check and phone police. None of the drywall made it into the lake.

Feinstadt and her husband, Garry, have lived at Stump Lake part time for years. She said loads are dumped across the road and rigs end up in the lake more times than she can count.

Last summer a big rig from California left Highway 5A and spilled corn all over the place, she said.

The accidents are a result of drivers being unfamiliar with the windy, two-lane highway, exhausted from too many hours behind the wheel, or driving too fast, said Feinstadt.

She said residents who live along Highway 5A have called for the province to ban truck traffic that uses the route as an alternative to the Coquihalla Highway because of the record of accidents involving semi-trailers. Nothing has been done about it.

Feinstadt believes drivers choose Highway 5A over the Coquihalla because they don’t want to stop at the brake check and risk having their vehicle taken off the road.

“Why do B trains have to be on this road?” she asked.

The Ministry of Environment cleaned up the spill Tuesday. Nagy said a commercial vehicle inspector is investigating.

She said police have been called to dozens of rig accidents on Highway 5A.

“That’s a very dangerous road.”

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