A Sturgeon County woman’s life hung in the balance Friday afternoon after a head-on collision just east of Villeneuve.
Morinville and St. Albert RCMP closed Highway 633 between Hogan Road and Highway 44 for several hours Friday afternoon after a van and a car smashed into each other head-on just east of Range Road 264.
Police got word of the accident at about 12:40 p.m., said Cst. Brandon DeBow, the officer on scene.
“It appears one vehicle just went into the other vehicle’s driving lane,” he said.
The crash completely caved in the front ends of both vehicles on the drivers’ sides. The car, a red Ford Contour, ended up in the south-side culvert just metres from a nearby home. The van, a red Pontiac, was still on the road.
Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to extract at least one driver from her vehicle, DeBow said. The driver of the van, a Sturgeon County woman in her late 30s, was taken by STARS Air Ambulance to the University of Alberta Hospital at about 2 p.m. with life-threatening injuries. The driver of the car, a woman in her 20s, was taken by ambulance to the Royal Alexandra Hospital with serious injuries.
Two children were also in the van, DeBow noted. They were taken to the University of Alberta Hospital for observation. Police re-opened the highway at about 3:30 p.m.
Police were still investigating the crash as of press time and had yet to lay any charges, DeBow said. Investigators had yet to determine which direction each vehicle was headed, but believe they collided head-on. Speed, weather, and alcohol did not appear to be factors in the collision.
The Gazette observed that the road was free of ice and visual obstructions as of Friday afternoon. The speed limit at the location of the crash is 100 kilometres an hour.
