A head-on collision on Highway 44 near the Pibroch turnoff Thanksgiving Monday has left one woman dead and two others with serious injuries.
Westlock RCMP Const. Michael Zufferli said at around 4:40 p.m. on Oct. 8, police, local firefighters and EMS personnel responded to a collision about a quarter mile north of the Pibroch turnoff.
The collision involved a Hyundai Elantra and a Hyundai Santa Fe.
The Elantra’s driver, a 74-year-old woman from Gift Lake, Alta., was killed in the collision. Zufferli said paramedics pronounced her dead on scene.
The Elantra’s 20-year-old female passenger, also from Gift Lake, sustained serious injuries and was transported to the Westlock hospital via ground ambulance.
The 56-year-old female driver of the Santa Fe, from Edmonton, also suffered serious injuries and was taken to the Westlock hospital.
Both survivors’ injuries were not considered to be life threatening, he said.
Zufferli said that at the time of the collision, the Elantra had been travelling north and the Santa Fe had been travelling south. Upon investigation, he said the Elantra had gradually drifted into the southbound lane.
It continued to drift far enough into the lane that it collided head-on with the Santa Fe “at regular highway speed,” Zufferli said.
“The Santa Fe attempted to avoid the collision, however the Elantra was fully in the southbound lane,” he explained.
Both vehicles came to rest in the ditch along the west side of the roadway.
Several independent witnesses gave reports that corroborated the police investigation, including how smooth the drift was, he added.
“Based on the witness statements, it was a gradual drift into the southbound lane,” Zufferli said, adding some had thought the Elantra was passing another vehicle.
He added there is no way to tell whether the Elantra’s drift into the oncoming lane was intentional or a result of a medical emergency.
Speed and alcohol are not factors in the collision, nor were road and weather conditions. All three occupants were wearing their seatbelts.
The collision shut down the highway for several hours as first responders extracted the Santa Fe’s driver, and then cleaned the roadway of debris.
In addition, due to the nature of the collision, Zufferli said the RCMP collision analyst was also on scene to map out what happened.
