For more than a year, people travelling on Highway 63 were making it to their destinations.
Unfortunately, the ‘Highway of Death’ moniker has been resurrected with three fatal collisions taking four lives in a little more than two weeks.
The latest collision took place on a two-lane stretch of Highway 63 near Marianna Lakes on Oct. 28.
Shortly after 8 p.m., reports came in that a southbound small economy-sized vehicle had collided with a 20-passenger shuttle bus that was heading north.
When emergency crews arrived on scene, the two male occupants of the car were pronounced deceased and a third individual with critical life-threatening injuries, who was in the shuttle bus that was heading to a work camp in the area, was eventually airlifted to an Edmonton hospital.
The extent of his injuries and current condition are not known.
A number of others that were also on the bus were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
The collision caused the closure of the highway close to eight hours, with traffic being diverted to Highway 881 out of Fort McMurray and along Highway 55 to Highway 881 at Atmore.
The other two fatalities occurred on Oct. 24 when an 18-year-old Edmonton man died following a head-on collision with a semi-trailer and on Oct. 19 where a 49-year-old male motorcyclist died after running into the back of a camper trailer.
Both incidents took place on the same two-lane stretch of Highway 63 south of Wandering River.
Sgt. Sonny Kim, commanding officer of Athabasca/Boyle Integrated Traffic Unit, was surprised with sudden number of fatal collision after having gone so long without losing a life on the highway that was so bad at one point, that a group was formed to lobby the province to step up the pace of twinning the dangerous roadway.
“Not to say this is the case in all instances, but a lot of times people are blaming the road,” explained Kim.
“It isn’t always the road, but the attitude of drivers that need to change. Since 2007, the number of fatal collisions has reduced and driving behaviour has gotten better.”
Although, Kim added, that drivers still need to be educated on staying safe.
“Especially with winter coming up on us, motorists need to drive according to the road conditions and slow down,” he said.
“Take your time, plan ahead for your trip and leave enough time to get to your destination. On the three-hour trip between Boyle and Fort McMurray, what is the difference between going the speed limit and that extra 20 kilometres per hour or more some motorists go – 10 or 15 minutes? Is it worth a potential collision or possible death?”
Boyle RCMP are continuing to investigate the cause of the latest collision and are asking any witnesses to come forward with information by contacting the detachment at (780) 689-4081.
