Accident site subject of many complaints

A Parkcrest Avenue man said he’s called police often about speeding in his area — all to no avail.

So he wasn’t surprised when a two-vehicle collision near his North Shore home Wednesday led to five people being taken to hospital, including a teen in serious condition.

Rob Shaw, who ended up with one of the vehicles on his front lawn, said speeding and erratic driving are constant problems on Parkcrest.

“They speed by here steady,” he said. “They drive like idiots here.

“Sooner or later I knew it was going to happen.

“The cops, I’ve phoned them about 10 times to come out here and set up and do a radar and they don’t do anything.”

Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said a Ford Escort carrying four teenagers was travelling eastbound on Parkcrest just before 6 p.m. when it attempted to turn left onto McLean Street, crossing into the path of an oncoming Honda CR-V.

“The four teenage occupants of the Ford Escort received the most significant injuries, with one 17-year-old male who was sitting in the rear seat sustaining multiple broken bones and internal injuries,” he said.

“His condition was considered to be serious, but not life-threatening.”

Initial reports indicated the 17-year-old, who had to be removed from the Escort with the jaws of life, suffered a severely broken femur.

The Escort was mangled in the accident and spun into the yard of a home on the northwest corner of the intersection of Parkcrest and McLean, narrowly missing a fire hydrant.

The CR-V, which was spun 180 degrees following the crash and left facing east in the westbound lane, only had visible damage to its front end.

“The driver and lone occupant of the Honda CR-V, a 28-year-old Kamloops man, suffered only minor injuries,” Learned said.

Dozens of residents living in the area watched as rescue crews dealt with the wreck.

Shaw said the impact of the collision startled him as he sat in his back ard.

“We were sitting right here and it just thumped,” he said. “It shook the ground.”

Shaw said that by the time he got out to the street to see what had happened, the 17-year-old was the only person remaining in either vehicle.

“His leg was pretty twisted up,” he said.

“With the impact, I thought somebody would have been way worse off,” he said.

“It was a thumper.”

The area surrounding the intersection was cordoned off for more than an hour as investigators pored over the scene.

Learned said charges against the teenaged driver of the Escort are expected.