The District of Saanich is looking for ways to improve safety on Prospect Lake Road, starting with a traffic-safety audit, following a collision Monday evening that killed a 51-year-old motorcyclist.
The fatal collision occurred in the 4000 block of Prospect Lake Road near Munn Road about 5 p.m. Monday. The motorcyclist died at the scene.
It was the second collision on the rural road in less than a week. On Friday morning, a single-vehicle rollover crash closed a stretch of the road near the intersection with Munn Road.
The road is narrow, winding and tree-lined, with bends, hills and blind corners. There are no sidewalks and no shoulders. The posted speed limit is 50 km/h, although yellow advisory signs at each end of the road recommend that motorists slow to 30 km/h.
Saanich put in a request Tuesday for ICBC to conduct a safety audit of the road.
“Whatever the audit recommends, we will implement. It could be infrastructure, signage, road speeds,” said Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes.
He said the municipality installed signs on the road last month warning of curves ahead, and identifying Prospect Lake as a rural road. Saanich has been planning to install rumble strips on the road’s centre line, he said.
Haynes appealed to motorists to respect the driving conditions on rural roads and slow down. “We can’t solve this ourselves. It takes many ingredients,” he said.
Det. Sgt. Damian Kowalewich of Saanich police said the rural road is known to have a higher number of collisions than other areas.
ICBC statistics show 78 crashes on Prospect Lake Road from 2013 to 2017. That figure includes 26 crashes at the intersection with West Saanich Road, and 21 near the location of Monday evening’s fatality, where Munn Road meets the rural road.
Kowalewich said police have increased enforcement on the road over the last year and a half and are working on numerous projects to reduce speed and collisions.
Kowalewich joined Haynes in asking drivers to drive cautiously, noting rural roads are not as wide and “forgiving” as other roads.
Residents of Prospect Lake Road have been concerned about its safety for years. They say the volume of traffic on the once-quiet road has been increasing, as commuters between the West Shore and Saanich look for alternative routes to the congested highway.
Janice Madson has lived on the country road between Munn Road and Burnside Road West for 25 years.
Since Aug. 14, 2018, she has counted between 18 and 22 crashes on that stretch that she either witnessed firsthand or heard about from neighbours.
“It’s a terror that we live with every day,” said Madson, who won’t invite friends over during rush hour for fear they will be involved in a crash.
Madson said she can count 500 cars driving by her house in an hour during morning and afternoon rush hour.
“Our roads are not built for that,” she said.
Madson would like to see the road’s speed limit reduced to 30 km/h and traffic-calming measures put in place that would deter drivers from using the road as a shortcut.
