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Coquihalla Highway fatality follows speed-limit increase

Just weeks after the speed limit was raised on the Coquihalla Highway, police are probing a fatal multi-vehicle accident on the weekend. But advocates for increased speed limits say it’s too soon to draw any conclusions.
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Just weeks after the speed limit was raised on the Coquihalla Highway, police are probing a fatal multi-vehicle accident on the weekend. But advocates for increased speed limits say it's too soon to draw any conclusions.

Just weeks after the speed limit was raised on the Coquihalla Highway, police are probing a fatal multi-vehicle accident on the weekend.

But advocates for increased speed limits say it’s too soon to draw any conclusions.

A report by Global News indicates that there was at least one fatality in the multi-vehicle crash that closed the highway at the Great Bear Snowshed on Saturday afternoon. RCMP didn’t return calls Sunday.

Ian Tootill, co-founder of SENSE B.C., a group that had sought speed-limit increases on major roads, said they’ll be monitoring the accident investigation. The highway had its speed limit raised from 110 km/h to 120 km/h earlier this month after Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced that, after lengthy consultation, speed limits would rise on some roads.

“It is way too early to say the speed-limit changes caused the accident,” said Tootill, who drove the Coquihalla last week and said the increased limit seemed to be working. “You need at least a year’s worth of data.”

At the time of the speed-limit increases, both police and health officials said they were worried about more carnage on B.C. roads.

Another accident Saturday in Chilliwack claimed the life of one person. Three cars collided at Lazenby and Ashwell roads. At least two others were taken to hospital in that crash, according to news reports.

Another fatality occurred Saturday in Mission in a head-on crash on Dewdney Trunk Road.

On July 2, Stone said that after conducting a study on provincial roadway speed limits, it was decided some speeds should be increased. The new 10-km/h increase happened immediately on the Coquihalla between Hope and Kamloops, and on Highway 97C from Aspen Grove to Peachland, and Highway 19 from Parksville to Campbell River on Vancouver Island. Other roads will have speeds raised over the summer.

Meanwhile, in Abbotsford on Sunday morning, a 76-year-old female pedestrian suffered serious injuries in an accident at Townline Road and Blueridge Drive.