Attending hundreds of serious crash scenes each year takes its toll, B.C. first responders say

Just days into the new year, officials are already pleading with British Columbians to follow the rules of the road.

Last year – like every year, sadly – was a deadly one on the roads in the Lower Mainland.

The RCMP's Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service responded to more than 75 fatal crashes and more than 80 crashes causing serious or life-altering injuries in the Lower Mainland, according to Cpl. Dave Noon, a member of the local ICARS team.

"These incidents are more than numbers," Noon said in a social media post Thursday.

"Each one represents shattered lives, devastated families and immeasurable shock and grief."

He also highlighted the impact attending these calls has on first responders, a concern echoed by Brian Twaites, a paramedic public information officer for BC Emergency Health Services.

"We go to these MVIs where people are killed or seriously injured, and seeing them on a repeated basis, and especially over the holiday season, is really tough on all first responders," Twaites said.

The B.C. RCMP website says the Lower Mainland ICARS team responds to more than 200 calls per year, on average. 

Based on that number and the figures Noon shared, 2024 appears to have been a down year for serious crashes in the region.

For Twaites, the number of crashes seen across the province last year is still far too high.

"The stats speak for themselves," he said. "It’s absolutely tragic the amount of MVIs we’ve been seeing."

"If we look back to July of this last summer, we had the highest amount of road fatalities in the past 11 years, so those numbers in July alone are just staggering," he added.

According to the BC Coroners Service, 19 people died in motor vehicle crashes between July 5 and 10.

At the time, BC Highway Patrol called the phenomenon "a really disturbing trend."

According to ICBC, crashes involving pedestrians are more common as the weather worsens and visibility decreases in the fall and winter, with nearly half of those that occur in B.C. each year happening from October through January.

Speed, impaired driving and distracted driving all play a role in causing serious crashes, Twaites said.

"For example, your cellphone, lock it in your glovebox so it's not a distraction to you," he said. "Believe it or not, I've seen people curling their hair while they've been driving their vehicle."

He urged people to make better choices and use caution on the roads in hopes of avoiding tragedy in 2025.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Isabella Zavarise