Editor: Three years ago my wife and I were involved in a serious rear-end accident in the George Massey Tunnel. Three vehicles were written off that day and we suffered injuries, including broken bones and a head injury to myself.
Some time after the accident I took some time to write a letter to your newspaper in order to point out some inexpensive improvements to the lighting and fire prevention in the tunnel in order to improve viability and reduce the fire hazard. At the time my call was to "Paint it, light it and, if there is a fire, put it out."
Can anyone ever forget the terrible incident where a gentleman burned to death in the tunnel, an accident that might have been avoided had the tunnel had fire sprinklers like all modern tunnels do? I avoid the tunnel as much as possible now and will often take the Alex Fraser Bridge if traffic is heavy. I am reminded of that terrible accident every time I travel the tunnel.
In spite of the announcement of a new crossing, we will still be using this tunnel for some time. Can we not have some action in making these modest improvements? An interesting exercise is to search B.C. Supreme Court judgments using the key words "Massey Tunnel" and count the number of court cases.
M.W. McConnell
