Inexperience and unfamiliarity with the area are to blame for a single-vehicle accident on Sunday, May 21st which resulted in the hospitalization of a 53-year-old male. The accident occurred at 11:45 a.m. when a motorcyclist lost control of his vehicle heading east near Sinclair Canyon. The driver overcorrected his motorcycle according to RCMP Sergeant Bob Vatamaniuck, which resulted in the driver hitting a rock face one kilometre from the Kootenay National Park entrance.

When people are unfamiliar with typography and the geography of the area certainly we do see a high number of collisions. Especially in high volume times, because there’s so much going on, and in inclement weather times as well, because it gets slick in there. People arent really used to the road conditions and often times lose control and either hit a guard rail or hit a rock face, said Sgt. Vatamaniuck.

No traffic was affected by the accident according to Sgt. Vatamaniuck most of the traffic had already purged although there was consistent traffic it wasn’t high volume. The driver of the motorcycle was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash but did sustain injuries to his wrist and leg.

Those injuries weren’t considered life-threatening and required some hospitalization but as far as I know they’re out of the hospital now but that was a few days ago, said Sgt, Vatamaniuck.