Oliver Fire is reminding drivers to respect emergency personnel after someone drove past a crash scene to avoid taking a detour on Saturday, Jan. 20.

A crash at Ridgeview Road closed Highway 97 just north of Oliver late Saturday afternoon. One vehicle hit a power pole, which caused the closure of the highway in both directions. Traffic was being diverted at Island Road and Park Rill until the highway re-opened at 7:15 p.m.

While emergency crews were on scene a vehicle drove past the detour and through the incident site, endangering the lives of emergency crews and those impacted in the crash.

鈥淲hen there are emergency vehicles and emergency personnel on the highways directing traffic, please obey all directions given,鈥� Oliver Fire posted on social media.

鈥淚t may be an inconvenience that you have to spend an extra couple minutes to drive around to get home, but when people disregard directions and drive past emergency personnel you are endangering our lives and yours as you may not know the dangers on the road ahead. Please respect those emergency personnel, they deserve to go home just as much as you do.鈥�

This is the second crash to shut down Highway 97 in Oliver in both directions in the past two days.

A Friday morning crash closed the highway down for several hours with traffic re-routed onto Road 22.