Driver of truck which caused deadly crash in Coquitlam among two people killed
Posted September 6, 2017 9:55 am.
Last Updated September 7, 2017 9:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) – We’re learning more details about yesterday’s deadly crash on Lougheed Highway that killed two people. The mayor of Coquitlam says the truck driver was one of the victims.
It happened between Como Lake and Pitt River Roads.
“This is a freak accident,” says Mayor Richard Stewart. “It simply had nothing to do with the road design or with speeding or erratic driving or anything like that.”
RCMP have confirmed that an “unoccupied earth mover” rolled down a slope from a construction site onto the highway, where it hit two other vehicles.
Stewart says the driver of the 13,000kg truck stopped and got out of his truck to open a gate. “He gets out of the truck to open the gate, the truck starts to roll, he tries to run after it and climb in, it runs over him, and proceeds down the roadway and crushes the sedan that was southbound, killing the passenger and injuring the driver.”
The driver of the truck was in his 30s. The BC Coroners Service has also identified the other victim as a woman in her 60s. Four other people were hurt in the crash.
No names have been released.
Mounties and WorkSafeBC are investigating the collision.
Barriers wouldn’t have helped in this case, says Stewart
“It’s the stretch of road that keeps me up at night,” the mayor says. “When I saw the note from our fire department last night, I just shuddered. I cried. Because I expected what we’ve seen way too often along there — a collision related to head-on where someone crossed the centre line. What we found, though, was nothing like that. It was just happenstance. It was wrong place, wrong time and a horrible mistake by a truck driver.”
There have been calls for barriers on the median in that stretch of road, but Stewart says it’s not as simple as it sounds.
“We have to do it. It has to get done, no matter what the cost is. But it’s a very complex engineering and… there are a lot of approvals that have to be made. One of the main ones is to have the railway agree.”
“The CP Rail line tucks right up against the highway on the east. So, there’s no room to expand that. And the heritage buildings are on the west, tucked up right against the highway… And there’s a major waterline that goes through there… it’s just an engineering nightmare,” he adds.
