Ladner Trunk Road was closed to traffic for the second time in four days Wednesday due to yet another serious collision.
Just before noon, Delta police responded to what appeared to be a head-on crash involving a van and a semi-truck.
According to Delta police public relations coordinator Sharlene Brooks, the driver of the van, the lone occupant of the vehicle, suffered serious injuries and was in critical, but stable condition in hospital as of yesterday morning. Brooks said the driver of the semi-truck sustained minor injuries.
Ladner Trunk Road was shut down between 80th and 96th streets for approximately seven hours as police investigated and debris and diesel leaking from the semi were cleaned up.
Last Sunday, an off-duty surrey firefighter from Boundary Bay was killed further east on Ladner Trunk Road when his vehicle struck a parked semitruck.
It was the fourth fatality on the road this year after a Richmond couple was killed in a singlevehicle crash in April and a Langley teen died in a collision with a dump truck in July.
Mayor Lois Jackson said she would be meeting with police Chief Neil Dubord and well as the engineering department to discuss the situation.
"I just really think we've got to slow the traffic down and get people to pay more attention to what they're doing. The engineering of the road has been like that forever, so it's got to be human behaviour, I think," she said.
"Maybe we should lower the speed, I don't know. I certainly will be talking with the traffic section if they've got any recommendations as the result of both of these accidents. It's very tragic."
Jackson said for whatever reason many motorists are using Ladner Trunk Road when they should be on Highway 99, noting it's meant to be a local farm road.
"It's a narrow road, with ditches on both sides and that's the way Ladner Trunk Road has been forever and I really hope we don't change it, because that would mean the farmers would have a tougher time."
Brooks said Wednesday it is up to drivers to be attentive at the wheel.
"While we try and affect behaviour of the drivers through enforcement and education, we don't have control over the behaviour of drivers," she said.
"We need people to take charge of their responsibility to drive attentively. I'm not saying that these recent accidents are as a result of distracted driving because we just don't know, but barring any medical association that could have happened, people need to be attentive. Do what is within your power to drive responsibly and slow down."
Despite the rash of serious accidents on Ladner Trunk Road, traffic volumes on the roadway have declined, according to the municipal engineering department.
A study found the average daily volume in both directions between 80th and 88th streets was 12,894 vehicles in 2011, while a count from 2014 saw that figure drop to 8,851. The stretch between 104th and 112th streets saw a drop from 13,177 vehicles in 2011 to 9,657 in 2014.
Engineering director Steven Lan said those drops can be attributed to the opening of the South Fraser Perimeter Road.
ICBC spokesperson Sam Corea, noting the insurance corporation can't comment on Wednesday's incident or the road design, told the Optimist the road safety coordinator in Delta regularly meets with the municipality and police to look at crash data.
Corea noted a number of factors could come into play in a crash.
"It can be inattention, it can be speed, it can be impaired driving, it can be distraction, it can be road conditions, it can be driving too fast for conditions and there could also be road design issues as well. That's why there's a comprehensive approach for safety," he said.
Corea noted ICBC has several awareness and enforcement campaigns to go along with engineering projects.
