A vehicle that had flipped onto its roof on Highway 97 Sunday afternoon (Beach Radio staff photo)

By Liam Verster

HWY 97 Crashes

Two crashes on Highway 97 over the past few days

Aug 25, 2025 | 10:09 AM

The highway south of Vernon has seen two serious collisions within just a few days.

The first crash occurred around noon Friday, August 22.

Vernon North Okanagan RCMP confirmed Monday that an SUV was making a left hand turn off Bailey Road and onto the highway when it was struck by another vehicle.

“The SUV misjudged the distance and turned into the path of an on-coming passenger car that was southbound on Highway 97,” CPL. Tania Finn, Vernon North Okanagan RCMP’s Media Relations Officer, told Vernon Matters in an email.

“As a result, the passenger car T-boned the SUV causing substantial damage to both vehicles.”

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The driver and sole occupant of the passenger vehicle was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The driver and passengers of the SUV were uninjured.

DriveBC reported at the time that one lane in both direction were closed during the investigation into the crash, which concluded around 2 p.m. when the vehicles were towed from the scene.

The driver of the SUV was charged with making an unsafe left turn.

Additionally, there were several reports of a serious collision on the same stretch of highway Sunday afternoon.

Beach Radio staff say traffic was backed up for two or three kilometres as a result of a collision on Highway 97 around 2:15 p.m. August 24.

Photos from the scene showed one vehicle had flipped onto its roof as a result of the crash.

A vehicle that had flipped onto its roof on Highway 97 Sunday afternoon (Beach Radio staff photo)

Vernon RCMP say the collision occurred near the intersection with Crystal Waters Road, and was the result of the vehicle colliding with the centre barricade.

“The vehicle flipped landing on its’ roof and trapping one of the three occupants inside,” Finn told Vernon Matters.

“With the assistance of Vernon Fire Rescue, the entrapped person was safely extracted.”

The driver and two passengers of the vehicle were transported to hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.