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Driving too fast for bad road conditions

Slippery roads and blizzard conditions as well as speed may have caused the driver of a 2006 GMC pick up tuck to rear end a chip truck near Burns Lake last week.
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The accident forced the closure of Hwy. 16 for a number of hours while crews worked in heavy snow to clear debris.

Slippery roads and blizzard conditions as well as speed may have caused the driver of a 2006 GMC pick up tuck to rear end a chip truck near Burns Lake last week.

On Jan. 14, at 9:30 a.m. Burns Lake RCMP responded to a two vehicle accident on Hwy. 16 near the entrance to the Hampton's Babine Forest Products mill.

The driver of a west bound one ton, welding and service truck had driven into the rear of an empty Lomak semi trailer wood chip truck as the semi was about to turn off the highway into the mill.

According to Burns Lake RCMP the driver of the pick up truck was trapped inside and had received multiple fractures to his lower extremities as a result of the accident.

Burns Lake EHS and the Burns Lake Fire and Rescue department attended to the scene and worked to extract the injured driver from the vehicle using the jaws of life.

The driver was later taken to Prince George to receive further medical treatment.

The pick up truck was demolished in the accident and there was minor damage done to the semi as a result of a loose propane tank.

The propane tank become air born and slammed into the side of the semi, putting a large hole in the second trailer on the truck.

The service box of the pick up truck also dislodged ending upside down on the highway.

The weather and road conditions were very poor at the time of the accident with blowing snow and heavy snow fall.

Visibility was poor and limited due to blowing snow coming from the chip truck creating a white out cloud behind it.

The roads were very ice and slippery.

RCMP say that following too closely may have been a contributing factor in the accident but add that the driver of the service truck was driving too fast for road conditions.

Highway 16 was closed for several hours in order for rescue and EHS to extract the driver.

Charges are pending against the 37 year old male service truck driver who is from Telkwa.