The VPD’s six-hour closure of the Ironworkers’ Memorial Bridge on July 1 saved a distraught woman’s life.

However, the bold police decision, which left thousands of Canada Day motorists stranded in the heat last Tuesday, has prompted a strident call for a review of police protocol for shutting down North Shore bridges.

Currently, the Lions Gate Bridge and Ironworkers’ Memorial Bridge are under the jurisdiction of three police forces: VPD, RCMP and WVPD.

If an incident occurs a few feet south of the centre span on the Lions Gate, it’s a VPD call. A few feet north, it’s a WVPD incident.

And all three forces have different bridge protocols.

West Van, for instance, has custom-made, large black screens that can be deployed to allow police negotiators and suicidal individuals privacy without causing a major traffic disruption.

Following the tense situation created by the incident on the Ironworkers’ Memorial last Tuesday, North Shore mayors and CAOs, along with the chiefs of the three police departments, have already met to discuss a unified bridge incident protocol.

“We want to make sure we are on the same page,” explains North Van City Mayor Darrell Mussatto, who attended several bridge calls during his 20-year stint as a paramedic.

Mussatto believes it would also be prudent to investigate bridge protocols in other cities like San Francisco to see how the SFPD handles similar incidents on the Golden Gate.

“If you have to close a bridge (to save a life) – you have to close a bridge, but we want to minimize that. We see this as a significant impact to the North Shore and we want to try and minimize that, but a person’s life comes first.”

Still, without proper procedures in place to allow some lanes to remain open even during a tense standoff, others may be put in danger.

During last Tuesday’s incident, for example, a diabetic driver who needed food was stranded in gridlock and North Shore Rescue had to make backup plans for an avalanche call in case members couldn’t make it through the gridlock.

As CNV Mayor Mussatto admits, “(We need) a little better plan for dealing with the traffic.”

– The North Shore Outlook