An area woman is dead following a Thursday morning head-on collision two kilometres east of Westlock.
At approximately 8:15 a.m. on July 16, the Westlock RCMP were dispatched to a head-on collision between a semi truck and SUV on Highway 18 near Range Road 260 — just east of the Town of Westlock limits.
A subsequent police investigation revealed the SUV had been travelling westbound on Highway 18 and crossed the centre line, entering the path of the eastbound tractor-trailer. The driver of the semi truck attempted to avoid the SUV, but the vehicles collided head-on, say RCMP. The truck then entered the south ditch where it eventually caught fire —the cab was completely destroyed.
Highway 18 was closed for over two hours during the police investigation.
The driver, and lone occupant, of the tractor-trailer suffered only minor injuries and was treated on scene.
The lone female occupant and driver of the SUV, whose identity has not been released by the RCMP, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
On the Westlock News Facebook site, scores of posters have been offering condolences to the family of the deceased woman.
RCMP ‘K’ Division strategic communications officer Cpl. Hal Turnbull said their investigation into the cause of the collision is still ongoing.
“[Investigators] can determine the cause of an accident relatively quickly, or it could be several weeks,” Turnbull said.
“Especially if they’re looking at the vehicle itself. They’ll be examining the vehicle, examining the roadway — which has already done, I believe by a traffic analyst and a collision analyst — so they’re going to look at those findings and come to an understanding of what happened.”
Alcohol has been ruled out as a possible cause.
