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.
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