A Look at Some Shift into Winter Face Time

You’re out on the road, travelling along one of our northern BC highways, when you suddenly need to slow down. There’s a roadblock up ahead. As you crawl forward, in line with a variety of motor vehicles, you are signaled to stop by a woman in a reflective yellow jacket.

You’re out on the road, travelling along one of our northern BC highways, when you suddenly need to slow down. There’s a roadblock up ahead. As you crawl forward, in line with a variety of motor vehicles, you are signaled to stop by a woman in a reflective yellow jacket.

She smiles at you as she walks up to your driver’s side window. You lower your window as she approaches and makes eye contact.

“Are you ready to shift into winter?” she asks.

This is just an example of many recent interactions across our Skeena, Bulkley-Stikine, Fort George and Peace districts as our ministry staff join forces with local Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement officers, maintenance contractors, ICBC, RCMP and emergency responders to remind drivers about preparing for winter driving.

As hundreds of vehicles drove through these highway stops, they were provided with information about the importance of good winter tires and winter driving tips.

They were also given “goodies” including a DriveBC vehicle garbage bag full of information about how to prepare themselves and their vehicles for winter conditions, DriveBC and webcams, and using chains and winter tires to provide traction. Ice scrapers and tire gauges, provided by ICBC, were useful freebies to help drivers navigate the winter months.

Wherever you drive in BC, winter’s darkness, snow and heavy rain put extra demands on you. Check out our Shift into Winter information and stay safe!

Highway 16 road check

Fort George District staff and local CVSE joined maintenance contractor YRB Fort George on Highway 16 west of Prince George, to remind motorists to Shift Into Winter. If you look in the far back, you’ll see “Yarbee”, YRB’s mascot (also front and centre in the photo at the top of this page).

Highway 37 South road check

Skeena District staff met up with vehicles on Highway 37 by the Terrace Airport and on Highway 113, about two kilometres north from Highway 16. They handed out 100 bags with window scrapers, hand-warmers, Shift Into Winter pamphlets, Nechako Northcoast (maintenance contractor) contact cards, and some mints. As well, ICBC gave out about a dozen jugs of “Shift Into Winter” washer fluid, window scrapers and reflectors.

Bulkley-Stikine District staff joined Dawson Road Maintenance, RCMP, School District 54 and BC Emergency Health Service volunteers on Highway 16 in Burns Lake, Houston and Smithers. Drivers received gift bags, information about DriveBC.ca and a quick vehicle check to ensure they were ready for winter.

Peace District staff, CVSE officers, ICBC, RCMP and Argo South Peace (maintenance contractor) provided windshield washer fluid, some Shift into Winter safety tips and dusted off a vehicle or two at the Pouce Coupe weigh scales.

By teaming up with our road safety partners to deliver Shift Into Winter education and goodies, we aim to keep travellers safely on the road this season. We hope that our tips and tire-checks, free scrapers and washer fluid made a lasting impression on those who came through.

Make sure you know before you go and be properly prepped for winter driving. Any winter travel tips you’d recommend to other drivers?

Share this page:SharingFacebookTwitterLinkedInCopy Text

Page 1 of 2 comments on “A Look at Some Shift into Winter Face Time”

Leave a Reply to tranbceditor Cancel reply

  1. I live in SE BC East Kootenay area. But this question could serve larger area. We have the Drive BC App. We use it everyday wprk day its a bery valuable tool, allowing us to see current road conditions. I think it would be extremely helpful if there was an addition to the highway cams, if they also displayed the temperature at each camera location it would suggest possible driving conditions in each area. From Cranbrook to the boarder there are many temperature changes, and those changes create many changes in road temperature and driving conditions. Another layer of travel preparation. Thank you on advance for this opportunity for communication.

    • Good morning Noreen – thank you for your message and question. All of our webcams will show a “weather forecast” button directly underneath the cam. This weather information comes from a local weather forecast or from a weather station located directly at the cam itself. This should include the temperature at the location. Hope that this helps!