Cardiff Road collision claims life


Debris litters the road as firefighters work to free three occupants of a mid-size car Friday afternoon. A female occupant of the vehicle later died at hospital. – Stephen Dafoe Photo

By Morinville News Staff

Sturgeon County – A mid-afternoon collision Friday sent three to hospital where one of the patients, a 53-year-old Parkland County woman, later died.

Morinville RCMP, together with Alberta Health Services and the Morinville Fire Department, attended the scene of the two-vehicle collision just outside Morinville at Highway 2 and Township Road 554 around 3:10 p.m.

RCMP report their investigation shows a westbound cube van hauling tools proceeded from the stop sign in front of a northbound mid-size car. The collision resulted in substantial damage to both vehicles and required the assistance of firefighters to remove the patients from the car.

Deputy Chief Brad Boddez of the Morinville Fire Department said the call originally was for a vehicle fire; however, a small fire to the engine compartment of the vehicle had been extinguished already by the time they arrived.

Firefighters worked to free the occupants of the car: two women and a boy. “The extrication went fairly well,” Deputy Chief Boddez said. “There was significant damage to the car, obviously front-end damage. The doors, we had access ability on both sides for removal of the patients through the passenger door and the driver door.”

The driver of the cube van was not injured in the collision and has been charged under the Traffic Safety Act for failing to proceed safely from a stop sign, a penalty that carries a $172 fine.

The name of the deceased is not being released pending notification of next of kin. Her cause of death is not presently known nor is the extent of injuries to the other two patients.

Despite announcing in the summer of 2011 an overpass would be built at the dangerous Cardiff Corner, the province announced after the election this year the overpass would not be completed as originally thought due to difficulties in acquiring land on the south-east corner of the project.

The collision is still under investigation.

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7 Comments

  1. How very sad, my condolences to the family of the deceased. I hope the injured are able to make quick and complete recoveries, but sadly nothing can ever fully heal a family that has lost a loved one so tragically.

  2. my condolences go out to the victims family.this intersection is dangerous and i’m always scared there because you can’t see anything…

  3. My condoance goes out to the family. I hope this will wake up the province to finsh the overpass before something like this happens again.

  4. Every one of these accidents at that corner are tragic and shameful. I find myself wondering what the exact nature and cause of the delay is with the overpass. This needs to get sorted out quickly. In the mean time people should stay as far from that corner as they can. Take a few extra minutes and go out to the highway on the overpass. Much safer that way.

  5. My condolences to the family.

    How many more people have to die before the overpass construction gets started? Driving past the intersection each day myself ,seeing each time the crazy things people do crossing the highway and also each time afraid someone will pull out right in front of me.
    The problem is land on the south-east corner of the project? It’s just farmland no houses there – so where is the problem? The way things go nothing will happen this year so we won’t see an overpass not till at least 2014.

  6. I do not understand why drivers are having such a hard time with that crossing (no, it’s not an “intersection”). Yes, we need an overpass but there is no excuse for the accidents. It’s not a blind crossing as you can see for more than a mile in both directions. There is appropriate signage (stop sign to enter highway).

    If you are willing to risk your life and those of others, by all means, cross the highway without making ABSOLUTELY SURE there is no through traffic travelling north at 100+ km/hr. If you are turning onto Cardiff Road, from the southbound highway, yes you have the right of way but are you really willing to risk your life that the driver wanting on is actually going to watch out for you?

    We just need to slow down and think. We, as drivers, are responsible for our actions and our actions alone. We must take the necessary precautions and make the right decisions. We can’t blame others and can’t use the delay of an overpass as an excuse. If it’s not this crossing, then it’s another crossing.

    Complacency will get people killed.

  7. Tammy, your premise that you can see for a mile in both directions is only true if there no northbound vehicles turning off the highway. If there are, then visibility becomes only what you can see around those vehicles. Yes, some of these accidents are because of people making ridiculous decisions but some of them are because you just can’t see oncoming traffic.

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