Deadly intersection sees 4 crashes in less than a month

Pipeline Road at the Perimeter Highway, an intersection on the northern edge of Winnipeg in West St. Paul, Man., has seen a spike recently in road collisions — four crashes in just over three weeks.

On Aug. 31 a minivan collided with a semi-trailer. A total of four vehicles were involved in the incident and two seniors died.

• 4-vehicle crash on Perimeter Highway kills 2
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Then, on Sept. 17, nine people were injured — including a nine-year-old girl transported to hospital in critical condition and a 71-year-old woman in unstable condition.

The last two crashes were less serious. On Sept. 20 there was a minor crash involving a dump truck and on Sept. 22 there was a three-car crash.

"In each case, a vehicle failed to either stop at the red light or, I believe in one case, stopped but then proceeded through the red light anyway," said RCMP Sgt. Mark Hume, unit commander for traffic services in western Manitoba.

Hume said speed was a factor in both serious crashes.

"So if someone does enter the intersection, even through a red light, it's compounded by the fact that people are speeding as well," he said.

The posted speed limit at the intersection is 80 kilometres per hour, but drivers frequently go faster than that, he said.

"People just need to slow down to 80."

While four crashes in less than a month is "somewhat unusual," Hume said it's not completely unexpected. About 20,000 vehicles pass through the intersection every rush hour.

"It [has] such a high traffic volume … I guess the odds are there." Hume said.

He doesn't believe Perimeter Highway and Pipeline Road is any more dangerous than any other intersection.

Overall, this year Manitoba has seen a high number of road collisions. As of early September there were 69 road fatalities in the province.

• Number of annual fatal Manitoba highway crashes doubles in 2016

Last year there were only 37 deaths on Manitoba roads over the same period, according to the RCMP.

"It's still a bad year, definitely but there's no specific reason that they're up, there's no one cause."

All bad driving habits — like impaired driving and speeding — appear to be on the rise this year, Hume said.