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聽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聽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.
鈥淲hatever the audit recommends, we will implement. It聽could be infrastructure, signage, road speeds,鈥� 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鈥檚 centre line, he said.
Haynes appealed to motorists to respect the driving conditions on rural roads and slow down. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 solve this ourselves. It takes many ingredients,鈥� 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聽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鈥檚 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 鈥渇orgiving鈥� 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聽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.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a terror that we live with every day,鈥� said Madson, who won鈥檛 invite friends over during rush hour for fear they will be involved in a crash.
Madson said she can count 500聽cars driving by her house in an hour during morning and afternoon rush hour.
鈥淥ur roads are not built for that,鈥� she said.
Madson would like to see the road鈥檚 speed limit reduced to 30聽km/h and traffic-calming measures put in place that would deter drivers from using the road as a shortcut.
