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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016
The voice of Delta since 1922
Driver racks up 15 tickets, loses vehicle
IAN JACQUES
C o n t r i b u t i n g Wr i t e r
Crews investigate and clean up after a collision between a van and a semi-truck on Ladner Trunk Road Wednesday.
PHOTO BY GORD GOBLE
Crash closes Trunk again Second serious collision in four days prompts mayor to review situation SANDOR GYARMATI & IAN JACQUES 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
PHOTO BY GORD GOBLE
This semi-truck ended up at least 100 metres away from the van it collided with Wednesday. 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. DRIVERS: see Page 3
Instead of one traffic ticket, a young Delta driver recently racked up 15 of them, accumulating more than $2,000 in fines and losing his vehicle in the process. And it’s all because he failed to stop for police during a routine traffic stop. According to the RCMP, officers attempted to stop a dark-coloured Lexus for a possible mechanical violation last Thursday on the ramp leading to the Alex Fraser Bridge. The driver appeared initially to be stopping, but fled from police. Having obtained the licence plate, the officers did not pursue the vehicle for safety reasons. While preparing their report, officers noticed a vehicle similar in description, but with a different licence plate, had also fled from police at the same location only a few days earlier. Further investigation showed both licence plates came back to the same vehicle identification number and registered owner. After the first incident, the owner obtained new licence plates for the vehicle. Police confirmed the driver was in fact the registered owner, a 20-year-old man from Delta. “On both occasions police officers did not chase this individual. We didn’t want to put the public at risk, so we exercised discretion,” said Sgt. Lorne Lecker of Deas Island Traffic Services. “But that didn’t mean he got away — we have other ways to ensure these type of drivers will face consequences.” The day after the second incident, officers went to the owner’s home and impounded the car. His driver’s licence was also seized. The driver, who had a valid driver’s licence and insurance, would have been issued a $109 ticket had he stopped as required, added Lecker.