TO DRIVE OR NOT TO DRIVE

Hell has frozen over on the streets of Vancouver, and nobody came prepared

Matt Shipley - Co-Editor-In-Chief

Siobhan Barry - Illustrator

It seems to happen every single year, and yet Vancouver is always ill-prepared. The worst weather always happens to tempt the worst drivers out onto the roads and, contrary to popular opinion, that’s no coincidence.

In reality, in conditions like what we saw in late December of 2022, prudent drivers don’t drive. The countless accidents, ambulance calls and social media tirades over the past weeks were not caused by people who understood the severity of the conditions — rather, they were born of people who decided to brave the conditions, not knowing the limitations of their tires or machinery.

There are, of course, exceptions. It would be insensitive not to mention the passenger bus crash east of Merritt on Highway 97C that hospitalized 53 people, four of which passed away following the accident. Certain roads on the North Shore (I’m looking at you, 27th and Delbrook) were positively undriveable, and residents of those streets were essentially confined to the walls of their homes unless they were lucky enough to own crampons. While most bus routes remained operational, TransLink urged passengers to avoid non-essential travel, and the SkyTrain system was severely affected by the inclement weather. One bus crash near the top of Mountain Highway on the North Shore lost control on the steep slope, plunging into hydro poles and parked cars and damaging three residences adjacent to the road.

Due to the many different governing bodies across the Lower Mainland, the snow-clearing process differs slightly from one jurisdiction to the next, and road conditions could be expected to worsen significantly on the borders of certain districts. While most areas have a similar approach to snow-clearing, larger and less-organized districts had much more trouble clearing their roads in a timely manner, leading to delays and several accidents. During the final ten days of December, accidents occurred on nearly all highways and major arterial roads in the Lower Mainland, all the way out to Hope and (of course) the Coquihalla.

Do you prefer Vancouver in the rain or in the snow?

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