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Pemberton man charged in collision that closed highway for two hours

Driver allegedly swerved to miss oncoming police car while attempting to pass

Guillermo Bright and Paul Fournier never saw the truck that almost killed them.

They were driving home to Whistler shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, after a day of mountain biking in Pemberton, when Bright’s Nissan Pathfinder was struck from behind by a pickup truck.

The last time Bright looked in the rear-view mirror the closest vehicle was a white car about 50 metres back.

He saw a police car in the oncoming lane a moment later, and reflexively glanced down to check his speed. He was relieved to see that he was only going about 80 km/h, the speed limit.

The next thing he knew there was a loud crashing noise and his Pathfinder was heading into the concrete barrier.

"I just went into a tuck and closed my eyes when we hit, and the next thing I knew we were rolling down the bank on the other side. I don’t know if we went through the barrier or over it. I remember thinking ‘please stop rolling, please don’t hit a big tree’. I also remember thinking ‘how the hell did that happen? Who hit me?’ It felt like I had a lot of time to think," said Bright, who estimates that his truck didn’t stop until he was almost 200 feet from the road.

Another thought that crossed his mind was that the police officer that the truck swerved to miss would be a witness to the accident and would be able to call in help a lot faster.

His vehicle eventually came to rest in some young trees in a swampy area at the bottom of the embankment.

Fournier doesn’t know how far he was thrown from the vehicle, but was told that it could have been as much as 100 feet.

"Everybody who saw it is telling me I’m lucky to be alive. I went to look at the truck the other day in the impound yard, and it’s crushed like a pop can, so I believe it," said Fournier.

Fournier was in the passenger seat of Bright’s Pathfinder when the accident occurred. He had just taken his seatbelt off to untie his bike cleats when their vehicle was rammed from behind.

He guesses he went through the side window, smashing through the glass, before landing in a boulder field. It’s hard to tell because every window in the vehicle was broken as the truck tumbled down the slope.

The first thing he remembers is a woman who attended the scene asking him if he was awake and advising him not to move.

"She asked me if I knew what was going on, and I’m like, ‘can you take my helmet off?’ I was out for a couple of minutes and when I came to I guess I thought I was in a bike crash."

According to the police report the accident approximately 12 km north of Whistler.

Police say the driver of the pickup truck was attempting to pass the Pathfinder while going around a blind corner on a double-yellow centre line. The vehicle swerved to avoid a police car in the oncoming lane and struck the Pathfinder.

The highway was closed for almost two hours to allow rescue crews, tow trucks and investigators to secure the scene.

Both Bright and Fournier consider themselves lucky to be alive and relatively unharmed. Bright is still bruised from his seatbelt and on painkillers, but hopes to be able to return to work in a couple of weeks. He was taken to the Whistler Health Care Centre for assessment and later released.

Fournier was in worse shape, and was taken to Vancouver General Hospital for treatment. He suffered a dislocated shoulder and collar bone, as well as numerous cuts and bruises. Pieces of broken glass were embedded in his arms and legs, and he was scraped up by the rocks and sticks.

His calf was badly cut and infected, and he requires daily intravenous treatments to treat it. If this is the extent of his injuries – he’s still too stiff to tell whether he has any residual back or neck pain – he says he will likely be out of work for the next five or six weeks. As a plumbing contractor he already has several jobs underway, and summer is his busiest season.

The Pathfinder is a complete write-off as a result of the accident, as were the bikes they had in the back of the truck. Bright says he was impressed by how well the truck protected him in the crash.

Although both Bright and Fournier say they will likely make full recoveries, they are angry at the driver of the pickup truck for recklessly endangering their lives.

"I’d like to see zero tolerance on the highway," said Bright, who says he sees examples of reckless driving on the highway all the time. "If you’re driving too fast you should get a ticket. They should do that, and bring back the (radar) vans, although they don’t get the drunks off the roads. Nothing beats having cops out there in cars."

While the RCMP allege the driver of the pickup was inebriated, Bright says he was obviously sober enough to make the split second decision that it was better to ram his Pathfinder from behind than to hit the police car head-on. The accident wasn’t a result of carelessness he says, but rather of angry, aggressive driving that he says is becoming more common on the highway.

Fournier also says the highway is getting more dangerous, despite the fact that everyone knows its reputation for being treacherous and sometimes deadly.

"The reason I’m making such a big stink is because of all these idiots on the highway. To the driver of the truck, what were you thinking, why would you try to pass somebody on an outside corner like that? We’re lucky, but he’s lucky that he didn’t kill somebody."

The RCMP are still investigating the incident, but Bright said he was told by the officer in the oncoming police vehicle that the pickup truck could have been travelling as fast as160 km/h when it rear-ended the Pathfinder.

The RCMP have turned the investigation over to traffic analysts who will study the tire marks at the scene as well as the damage to the vehicles to determine how the accident occurred, including the relative speed of the vehicles.

Although the investigation is ongoing, the RCMP believe that speed and alcohol were both contributing factors in the accident.

The driver of the pickup, a 39 year old Pemberton resident, was charged with one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, one count of impaired operation of a motor vehicle, and one count of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08.

The RCMP are advising all drivers to calm down, as Saturday’s incident is only one of half a dozen serious accidents to occur on Highway 99 over the past several weeks. "If you drive smart, drive safe, and drive without drugs and alcohol in your body, everybody is a lot better off. We’re not saying it won’t happen, but if you drive properly then they’re not supposed to happen," said community policing officer Michelle Nisbet.

The RCMP have a full-time traffic section to monitor the highway and all constables also watch the highways and roadways as part of their service.

"Because the road already has a nasty reputation, we’re always trying to look at the stats and come up with new ways to keep it safe," said Nisbet. "It affects us all."

The driver of the pickup will make his first court appearance on Oct. 6 in North Vancouver Provincial Court.