Despite the simplistic nature of Kevin Krueger’s solution (Ban Trucks From Highway 5A, The Daily News, Oct. 9), your ill-informed editorial of Oct. 10 and several other letters and comments, I had intended to refrain from commenting on the Highway 5A issue. However, the letter of Oct. 12 from Calude Schaffner was the last straw.
We must get a few things straight.
First, with respect to this most recent tragedy, it has been rumoured that both trucks were speeding. The northbound truck was fully loaded and, at that location with its horsepower, was incapable of reaching the posted speed limit, let alone exceeding it.
The driver was sufficiently alert to have taken to the right-hand ditch in an attempt to avoid the collision.
Next, this crash took place on a section of the “two-lane country road” that is not particularly tricky or difficult to negotiate. Furthermore, my reading of the Daily News persuades me that truck crashes are not infrequent, much less unknown, on the Coquihalla Highway, so redirecting traffic to that route is of dubious benefit.
If a truck traffic prohibition on Highway 5A is the answer, from what other roads must we ban trucks? Surely the Trans-Canada Highway from Yale to Boston Bar and again from Lytton to Spences Bridge are unfit for trucks, as the road must be from Salmon Arm to Revelstoke.
Is the two-lane country road from Heffley Creek to Little Fort fit for truck traffic? Probably not. The list of such roads is endless. A dozen more come immediately to mind. Go ahead and ban the trucks, but you’re just moving the problem to some other highway.
KEN GILLIS
Pritchard







