A large section of a major connecting highway across the Lakeland was closed for several hours to traffic last Wednesday afternoon following a collision.
A woman was seriously injured in the crash between the pickup truck she was driving and a gravel truck pulling a tandem trailer. The crash was first reported just before noon on Highway 55 near Range Road 120 west of Rich Lake.
The preliminary investigation into the crash shows that both vehicles were westbound on Highway 55 — the pickup in front of the gravel truck. A crash analyst for the RCMP reports that the pickup was attempting to turn left off the highway as the gravel truck was attempting to pass. RCMP spokesperson Corp. Troy Savinkoff said the pickup truck was struck on the driver's side by the semi-truck.The crash left the west-bound dump-truck and its second trailer sitting diagonally across the highway, and a large debris field scattered across the driving lanes.
Police did not give ages of either driver, but said they were the only occupants of their vehicles.
RCMP and municipal peace officers blocked off a large section of the busy Lakeland highway, sending motorists on a detour from the Highway 866 junction to McRae on the western side and from the hamlet of Rich Lake on the east. The roadway was opened to traffic about five hours later.
The woman was rushed to Lac La Biche's W. J. Cadzow Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Her current condition is not known.
The collision blocked a portion of the highway for five hours as responding emergency crews first worked to free the woman from her full-size dodge pickup truck and then worked to remove the two vehicles and debris from the highway.
Police say the driver of the gravel truck didn't suffer serious physical injuries.
** This story has been updated from its original version to provide more details about the collision.
