WESTLOCK – Police say poor winter road conditions were a factor in the horrific Wednesday-morning crash between an SUV and semi truck on Highway 18 that claimed the life of a 29-year-old Edmonton woman.
Just before 9 a.m. March 24, Westlock RCMP and emergency crews, including members of the town and county fire departments, were called to the scene of the accident roughly 24 kilometres east of the Town of Westlock on Highway 18 and Range Road 242 — a preliminary investigation reveals the SUV was travelling westbound on Highway 18 when it lost control and collided with the oncoming eastbound semi. The passenger side of the SUV bore the brunt of the collision as both vehicles came to rest in the southern ditch — the semi's trailer ended up blocking roughly half of the highway and two of its right rear wheels were off the ground.
Conditions on Highway 18 at the time of accident were slippery, with light snow falling and the temperature hovering around the freezing mark — following the crash, motorists were detoured around the site as the Westlock RCMP, along with a RCMP Collision Analyst, remained at the scene until the late afternoon. Heading east, that stretch of Highway 18 elevates, then curves to the north and then back to the east to regain a straight east-west alignment for the final stretch into Thorhild County.
“The road conditions were definitely a factor in the collision,” said Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird March 25. “There’s been collisions there … I think there was a rollover there a few months ago. It’s kind of a dangerous stretch of highway when the conditions are poor.”
The woman, whose name will not be released by police, was pronounced dead at the scene, while a dog inside the vehicle also had to be put down. The driver of the semi was uninjured. Initially, the Westlock Regional Notification System reported there were a pair of crashes on the highway, but Baird confirmed that there was only one.
