KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK – Emergency services personnel responded to a serious accident between a motorcyclist and a trucker on Highway 93 South in Kootenay National Park on Monday (Sept. 11).
RCMP were not immediately available for comment, but STARS air ambulance was called to the scene near Floe Lake trailhead.
“STARS transported a 51-year-old male patient in stable condition to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary,” said Blake Robert, communications officer with STARS.
Highway 93 South, a two-lane 94-km stretch of highway through Kootenay National Park between Castle Mountain and Radium Hot Springs, has been the scene of numerous accidents so far this year, including several fatalities.
On July 19, Columbia Valley RCMP were called to the park when a tanker truck was fully engulfed in flames. Police and fire crews attended, but the driver, an adult man, was dead at the scene.
On June 29, emergency services personnel were called to a double fatality on the highway between Dolly Varden and Settlers Road about 2:30 p.m. when a westbound car crossed the centre line and crashed into an oncoming SUV.
Both people in the car were pronounced dead at the scene and three people were sent to hospital, including a woman in her 30s who was flown by the STARS-1 crew and air ambulance helicopter to Foothills Medical Centre.
The highway was closed for several hours before reopening to alternating traffic.
On Feb. 2, Highway 93 South was the scene of a fatal accident near Hector Gorge between Kootenay Crossing warden station and the Simpson River trail. Columbia Valley RCMP said an SUV collided with a transport truck about 2 a.m ..
The driver of the SUV died at the scene. One of the passengers in the SUV suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, while an infant in the vehicle was uninjured. The occupants of the transport truck were also not hurt.
In Kootenay National Park, new mitigation measures have been put in place over the past year, including the installation of new speed readers to notify traffic of their actual speed at select locations and additional lights on recommended speed signs to increase awareness.
In addition, the Storm Mountain brake check area has been altered from optional to mandatory and the lane markings are being repainted to increase visibility.
Enhanced patrols and enforcement along Highway 93 South are happening.
Cell phone coverage is not available in Kootenay National Park, however, there are emergency satellite phones at Marble Canyon, Kootenay Crossing Operations Centre, Simpson River trailhead and Kootenay River day-use area.
