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UPDATE: Too close of a call

A semi-trailer passing another semi forces a truck from the road
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UPDATE: 2:30 p.m.

It isn’t the first time Jonah Jones has had a near-miss with another vehicle travelling along Highway 1, which is the reason he recently purchased a dash camera.

That dash camera captured Wednesday’s harrowing ordeal for Jones, when his vehicle was forced onto the shoulder by a passing semi-trailer.

“Just from a personal account there are several sections of road from Revelstoke to the Canoe area that are dangerous or have a propensity for danger,” he explained.

While traveling to Canoe, Jones was forced to drive on the shoulder of the road when a semi-trailer tried to overtake another semi coming up a hill on Highway 1 – a very dangerous situation.

“Some people who drive that road aren’t driving to conditions, but there are also factors of road design, vehicle design, and speed is always a factor, but very rarely is speed the reason someone has an accident and yesterday’s incident could have happened at 20 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour, the guy made a bad judgement call.”

He says the semi-trailer didn’t have the speed, acceleration to pass, or the sight-line to see Jones coming.

Despite the close call, Jones is very understanding of the situation, saying transport drivers are under immense pressure to make deadlines and get to certain locations.

“I don’t think for one second that this guy set out in the morning to cause an accident, he probably has his reasons for driving like that. He made a judgement call that I wouldn’t support,” he said.

Luckily for Jones there was a hard shoulder on the side of the road for him to pull onto; however if he was forced a few more feet off of the shoulder it’s possible he could have slid down the embankment.

Jones has since reported the incident to the company who operates the truck that cut him off.

CN is reported to be the company that owns the transport truck and responded to a media request by claiming that they are investigating the incident and taking the matter very seriously.

“I would call the police, but I feel they have been tied up with a few accidents lately on Highway 1 in the Shuswap involving semi-trailers,” he said.

Related: Five vehicle collision closes Trans-Canada

Jones also Tweeted the Ministry of Transportation urging them to look at his video and look into transport safety on Highway 1.

“I just think someone needs to look into why these guys are taking these risk, and risks with their loads that don’t always look properly secured,” explained Jones. “I am not sure how many of these transportation companies are being made accountable for the decisions that are made by their drivers. I don’t understand the mechanism around it, there is probably a lot more to it.”

The Salmon Arm Observer reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment but has not yet heard back.

Thought I'd share this. It happened today at around 4:30pm as I was leaving Salmon Arm heading towards Canoe. The...

Posted by Jonah Jones on Wednesday, March 8, 2017

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A motorist traveling along Highway 1 in the Shuswap was given the fright of his life earlier this week after a near miss with a semi-trailer

Jonah Jones was driving from Salmon Arm to Canoe on Wednesday about 4:30 p.m., when a semi-trailer coming up a hill was overtaken by another semi, forcing Jones from the road.

According to Jones, on social media, there was not enough time or space on the road for the trailer to pass the other semi safely.

The trailer ended up straddling the carriageway on Jones’ side of the road.

“Thanks to the hard shoulder I was able to move off the side of the road. Without that I would have been flat,” he said on Facebook.

Jones escaped the harrowing ordeal but is frustrated by the situation and posted to a local road report group to warn other drivers.

More details to come.

If you have any photos or video to share of this incident or others like it please email: newstips@saobserver.net