It's not the road...

Many years ago, after this writer penned an editorial about the purported need to upgrade a stretch of Highway 1A east of Canmore, Alta. for reasons of safety, he received a phone call from an irate reader. "Don't you know," the caller with the British accent intoned, "that's it's not about the road? It's about how it's driven."

Two serious motor-vehicle incidents this week on our own Sea to Sky Highway - one north of Squamish, one south - have put the spotlight again on the issue of safety on "our" Highway 99. Three people were seriously injured in a head-on, two-vehicle collision just south of the Culliton Creek Bridge - a.k.a. BOB, for Big Orange Bridge - on Saturday (Feb. 18). Police suspect that driver error was a factor in the crash and say charges are probably forthcoming.

Then, on Wednesday (Feb. 22), a single-vehicle crash between Lions Bay and Porteau Cove, south of Squamish, resulted in the pickup truck catching fire and left one man dead. Our most sincere condolences go out to his family and close friends.

The latter crash also touched off a flurry of comments on The Chief's website, with one commenter wondering, "Where were the RCMP?" (Answer: We don't know, but we do know that they can't be everywhere, all the time.) Others chimed in with remarks about speeds on the highway before and since the $600 million upgrade that preceded the Olympics, following distances, and drivers who are either distracted or in a hurry.

Yes, enforcement is a factor in maintaining safety on Highway 99 or any road, anywhere. The roadway's design - whether it be the width of the shoulders, the sharpness of the curves, the number and location of passing lanes and of two-, three- and four-lane sections - also plays a role. The Sea to Sky Highway wasn't previously called the "killer highway" for nothing - 63 people died in crashes between Vancouver and Whistler between 1998 and 2007. Last April, Ministry of Transportation officials released statistics showing that there were 73 crashes on the highway in 2010 - a drop of 66 per cent from the average of 215 per year over the previous decade.

While the highway upgrades were ongoing, cynics opined that many would just travel faster once the highway's curves were smoothed out, passing lanes and median barriers added. And subjectively, that's certainly true - since the upgrades were completed, we've seen two- and four-wheeled vehicles moving faster along the highway than ever before.

The statistics don't lie, though - and clearly, even with higher average speeds, this roadway is far safer than it was before. That's something for which we're thankful (and, dare we say, a benefit brought about by the Olympics). But that caller from Canmore was right: It's not entirely about the road, either. Making it safer still depends on each of us keeping our speed reasonable, our attention on the road, and driving Highway 99 or any road according to the conditions.

- David Burke