In wake of London, Ont.-area crash that killed 5, municipality looking at safety upgrades
CBC
Local councillors are calling for safety improvements at an intersection outside London, Ont., after four high school students and a teacher died following a crash on Friday.
A motion considered at this evening's Thames Centre council meeting calls on the upper-tier municipalities of Middlesex and Oxford to conduct a traffic and roadway study of the intersection once the ongoing OPP investigation wraps up.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the motion.
It was at the intersection, at about 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, that four high school students — aged 16 to 17 — and their 33-year-old teacher died after the SUV they were riding in collided with a transport truck.
Following the initial collision, the SUV was then struck by a second SUV. Three of the five died at the scene and the two others died in hospital.
The driver of the transport truck and two people in the other SUV suffered minor injuries.
The students and teacher were on their way home to Walkerton — two hours away — after competing in a high school softball tournament in Dorchester, just east of London.
The students have been identified as Olivia Rourke, Rowan McLeod, Kaydance Ford and Danica Baker. Their teacher was Matt Eckert.
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of support. Friends and family members held a vigil Sunday in Walkerton.
Thames Centre Coun. Thomas Heeman is backing a motion that calls on the upper-tier municipalities of Middlesex Centre and Oxford County to consider undertaking a traffic study of the intersection to find ways to improve its safety.
"We haven't seen a loss of life this significant in some time," said Heeman. "I think the council wants to indicate that we want to work in partnership with the county ... on whatever can be done to learn from this situation and prevent such an incident in the future."
Cobble Hills Road is two lanes and runs north-south. Drivers on Cobble Hills come to a stop sign at the intersection of the busier Thorndale Road.
Tyson Ball is general manager of the Cobble Hills Golf Club, located two kilometres south of the intersection with Thorndale Road. He frequently drives through the intersection.
Ball didn't comment on what may have caused Friday's crash, but welcomes any safety enhancements to the road.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.
New data shows Winnipeg's fire-paramedic service fielded hundreds of reports involving the city's homeless population, but one advocate says she expects that number to go down in light of the city's limits on where encampments can be.
Former students of the Île-à-la-Crosse Boarding School have reached a settlement in their lawsuit against the federal government.