One woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries following a three-vehicle collision that shut down a stretch of Highway 18 east of Westlock for several hours on Sept. 14.
Westlock RCMP Cpl. Lee Grieco-Savoy said police, fire and ambulance received a call at 12:55 p.m. about a three-vehicle collision on Highway 18 just east of Range Road 261.
Upon arriving at the scene, they found a grey Dodge SUV, a grey Pontiac sedan and a white Dodge pickup, each damaged to varying degrees.
Grieco-Savoy said the SUV had been travelling east when it slowed down to make a left turn into a rural driveway along the north side of the highway. The SUV was rear-ended by the sedan, pushing it into the westbound lane and into the path of the pickup.
The SUV and the pickup collided head-on, sending the SUV back into the eastbound lane and the pickup through the ditch on the north side.
The sedan kept driving through the south ditch, back up onto and across the highway, before coming to rest on a driveway on the north side of the highway.
The 49-year-old female driver of the SUV suffered “severe injuries,” Grieco-Savoy said, and was transported to hospital in Edmonton via ground ambulance.
The two occupants in the pickup were examined and released on scene; the driver of the sedan suffered no injuries.
All three vehicles are considered write-offs.
Alcohol and drugs have been ruled out as factors, and charges are pending.
Grieco-Savoy said all four people involved were wearing their seatbelts, which significantly reduced their injuries.
“If seatbelts had not been worn in this case, it would have been a lot more serious,” she said.
Traffic along the highway was disrupted for nearly six hours, with drivers rerouted north and south along RR 261 and RR260.
The collision remains under investigation.
