Fatal highway crash prompts calls for twinning
Michael Franklin, CTV Calgary
A deadly weekend crash on Highway 8 has renewed calls for the provincial government to do something about the road between Calgary and Bragg Creek.
One person was killed when an SUV pulled out to pass on the road, then slammed head-on into a transport truck.
“We have witness accounts indicating that the vehicle crossed the centre line and it came into the path of an eastbound moving semi transport truck,” says Sgt. Dave Hardy, Cochrane RCMP Integrated Traffic Unit.
The driver of the SUV, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the semi tractor-trailer unit escaped from the cab moments before it erupted in flames. The driver suffered minor injuries in the crash and was treated by paramedics.
Wildrose MLA Bruce McAllister has been calling for action on behalf of the people who live in the area near Bragg Creek and released this statement on Monday:
“We know that Highway 8 was never designed for the volume of traffic it’s currently experiencing, continued inaction is no longer acceptable.
“Something needs to be done to improve highway safety, doing nothing is no longer an option. For the Minister of Transportation Ric McIver to simply suggest that there isn’t too much traffic on the road is selling Albertans short.
“We need to consider all options to improve highway safety whether it is looking at widening the shoulders, creating passing lanes, completing the west-leg of the ring road, looking at ways to reduce truck traffic or twinning the highway. We hope the government will listen and take action instead of creating further excuses.”
Transportation Minister Ric McIver says that twinning the highway is not in the province’s three year plan but they are doing all they can to ensure safety on the road.
“We make the roads as safe as we can. We re-evaluate on a regular basis, but Albertans still need to drive safely. Albertans need to be patient; they need to think about their own loved ones and they need to think about the people on the road and their loved ones.”
The provincial standard for twinning eligibility requires an average of 10,000 vehicles per day.
According to the Wildrose, the east end of Highway 8 experienced an average of 14,320 vehicles per day in 2012, which rose to 33,000 vehicles per day by the time traffic reached Sarcee Trail