Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Victoria-Fraserview: Knight Street Bridge off-ramp city’s worst

267 crashes reported in 2012
knight street bridge
The busy off-ramp from the Knight Street Bridge onto Southeast Marine Drive is the city’s most treacherous intersection. photo Dan Toulgoet

Past news headlines tell the story: “Fatal accident jams Vancouver’s Knight Street Bridge,” “Truck crash creates traffic mess on Knight Street Bridge,” and “Woman, 62, dies in Vancouver traffic accident at Knight and E. 20th.” These are just a few.

It should come as no surprise to motorists or pedestrians that Knight Street is one of the most dangerous roads in Vancouver. The off-ramp at the north end of the bridge that intersects with Southeast Marine Drive in the Victoria-Fraserview neighbourhood is the most treacherous in the city.

In 2005, the intersection earned the dubious title as the most dangerous in the province. That ranking was based on 2004 ICBC statistics, which showed there were 340 accidents at the north end of the bridge and 332 on the south side. The stretch of Knight Street that travels through the Victoria-

Fraserview runs from East 41st Avenue to Southeast Marine Drive.

Vancouver city transportation director Jerry Dobrovolny said the city has made a lot of improvements to Knight Street in the past nine years.

“We’ve implemented a whole series of left-hand turns all the way from the Fraser River to the Burrard Inlet,” said Dobrovolny. “The left-hand turns were important because, just visualize, waiting for a gap in traffic and you go for it, but then someone’s crossing the sidewalk. We’ve also installed medians and trees.”

Dobrovolny said the new left-hand turn signals have decreased traffic accidents at some intersections by 50 per cent.

According to 2012 ICBC statistics, there were 267 crashes at the Knight Street and Southeast Marine Drive intersection last year with 127 casualties — victims injured or killed. That’s almost double the accidents at the second hot spot in the city, the intersection at Grandview Highway and Boundary, which saw 141 crashes in 2012 with 51 casualties.

Other Knight Street crash zones in the Victoria-Fraserview area include:

  • Knight and East 41st Avenue: 94 accidents resulting in 28 casualties.
  • Knight Street and East 59th Avenue: 90 accidents at resulting in 40 casualties.
  • Knight Street and East 49th Avenue: 90 accidents resulting in 36 casualties.

Dobrovolny said the city works closely with the Vancouver Police Department and ICBC to make Vancouver roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, and in many cases ICBC will contribute to road improvements, such as left-hand turn signals, because it helps the insurance corporation save money in claims. Knight Street is of particular concern because it carries 50 per cent of the truck traffic moving through the city from Port Metro Vancouver.

VPD Const. and media relations officer Brian Montague said the VPD has a dedicated traffic section including 40 constables and four sergeants.

“The unit is responsible for traffic-related duties that include targeted speed enforcement,” said Montague in an email. “The targeted enforcement is done in areas where speeding is a problem and in areas with a high concentration of collisions. The Knight Street corridor is one area in the city where you will often find our traffic officers enforcing speed limits.”

Montague said the goal of targeted speed enforcement is to change the behavior of drivers and get them to slow down. The VPD conducts regular safety campaigns, many in conjunction with the province and ICBC, which target distracted, high risk and impaired driving, and checks for seatbelts, speed relative to conditions and pedestrian safety.

sthomas@vancourier.com
twitter.com/sthomas10