Joshua Farley immediately knew something was wrong when trucks heading the opposite way on a divided, four-lane section of the Trans-Canada Highway began flashing their lights and sounding their horns as they passed.
Farley was travelling through the Balmoral area en-route to Salmon Arm on Tuesday, March 30, hauling a load of garbage when he saw the reason for the lights and horns: A grey Pontiac hatchback travelling in the same direction he was, but on the opposite side of the barriers dividing eastbound and westbound traffic. He said the driver of the Pontiac appeared to be matching his speed while heading for oncoming cars that switched lanes to get out of their way.
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Farley began to sound his horn and switched on all his lights and beacons in an effort to warn oncoming traffic. He also called the police.
“Not once did brake lights come on while other cars were passing and no attempts were made to get to the side of the road,” Farley said.
He said the car travelled in the wrong lane from Balmoral to the White Lake Frontage Road before he pulled off to give the police more details. They told him an officer in the area would be looking for the car.
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Staff Sgt. Scott West of the Salmon Arm RCMP said that if a driver makes a mistake while merging onto the highway on the divided stretch, there are no exits between Carlin and Balmoral that they can use to get on the right side of the dividers. West said a much better option for the errant driver would have been to get off the road and slowly reverse the way they came rather than proceeding the wrong way in the fast lane which he called very dangerous.
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