Residents of Priddis, Alta., are asking for more safety measures on what they call a dangerous stretch of Highway 22 after a horrific crash claimed the life of a 25-year-old Calgary man earlier this week.
On Monday, a dump truck towing a trailer collided with a car head on as the truck was travelling eastbound on Highway 22. The driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other people involved in the three-vehicle collision were taken to hospital.
In 2012, a woman was killed when the vehicle she was in collided with a pickup truck on Highway 22 near the Priddis Greens area. Two women in the truck were rushed to hospital in serious condition.
In 2006, Priddis resident Angela Pipe almost lost her husband on that same road. He narrowly avoided a car passing on the lane and ended up in the ditch.
Pipe said the stories of near-misses and crashes on that curve of Highway 22 are all too common.
“(It was) very close to where this happened, just up the road a little bit. Somebody passed and didn’t quite make it all the way. My husband tried to pull over, trying to get out of the way, and flipped the horse trailer,” she said.
Pipe calls the road “dangerous” and said she sees drivers being careless, unaware of the S-curve and the hills on the road.
Heidi MacDonald, a resident of Priddis, said she also had a near-miss encounter on the stretch.
“I was going eastbound with the truck and could see a passing situation happening. Because there is just a drop-off, I went into the ditch (to avoid the vehicle). Otherwise I would’ve had a head-on collision,” MacDonald said.
The area is a designated passing zone, with varying parts of eastbound and westbound traffic designated as no-passing lanes.
Coun. Suzanne Oel of the Municipal District of Foothills said she has been approached by many residents calling for more signage or to widen the lanes. Others are calling for the province to make the lanes strictly no passing.
“There are issues with short passing lanes… this particular stretch of highway has had a few incidents and does consider some evaluations,” Oel said.
Oel said she brought up the issue during Thursday’s council meeting and that officials will be moving forward to push for a discussion with the Alberta Transportation Ministry about ways to curb dangerous driving and collisions on that stretch of highway.
An Alberta Transportation spokesperson said the ministry is not aware of any calls for a no-passing sign.
“The area is marked and conditions at the time of the collision were good… dry road and good visibility,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“There are proper highway markings, double solid. No passing on curves and hills.”
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