What is the most dangerous intersection in Chilliwack?
For the fifth straight year in a row, also the city’s busiest, Luckakuck Way and Vedder Road saw the most reported crashes, according to ICBC data.
For anyone who drives regularly in Chilliwack, this will come as no surprise as since 2015 there has been a crash at the intersection about once every 2.5 days.
In 2019, there were 134 crashes at Luckakuck and Vedder similar to the 140 in 2018, but down from a high of 173 in 2015, according to ICBC.
(See below for the full top 10 list.)
The second worst intersection, a spot similarly held firmly for the past half decade, is where Vedder Road meets Promontory Road (to the east) and Watson Road (to the west) where there were 113 crashes in 2019, a number that has gone steadily down from 143 in 2015.
Those are still the only two intersections that have seen more than 100 crashes a year in the entire city over the last five years.
In third spot is the roundabout at Evans Road and Yale Road that saw 86 crashes in 2019.
The first roundabout in the city, it was controversial among those new to the traffic calming concept of roundabouts. So are Chilliwack drivers getting better at negotiating the Evans Road roundabout? Apparently not. Having already been in place for a few years, there were 52 crashes at the intersection in 2015. But in the three years after that it went to 69, 67 and 70 before hitting 86 last year.
Other intersections of note include Knight and Vedder roads that hit a five-year high for crashes in 2019; Thomas Road and Vedder Road, which had a 76 per cent increase from 2015 to 2019; and Kerr Avenue and Vedder/Yale roads that similarly hit a five-year high, likely due in part to the new Molson Coors plant in that location.
Looking at streets and not just intersections, Vedder Road has seen a steady increase in crashes up 81 per cent from 260 in 2015 to 471 in 2019.
Yale Road was second in 2019 at 447, a number that was up 79 per cent from the 250 crashes in 2015.
Luckakuck Way, however, dropped 20 per cent from 469 crashes in 2015 to 377 last year.
Overall there were 4,765 reported crashes in Chilliwack in 2019, down from a five-year average of 5,107 and a peak of 5,423 in 2017.
Abbotsford had an average of 9,913 reported crashes a year over the last five years.
Top 10 Chilliwack intersections by number of crashes in 2019
(Five-year total in brackets)
1. Luckakuck Way and Vedder Road – 134 (716)
2. Promontory/Watson Road and Vedder Road – 113 (617)
3. Evans Road and Yale Road - 86 (344)
4. Cheam Avenue and Hodgins Avenue and Yale Road – 51 (277)
5. Knight Road and Vedder Road 49 (216)
6. Keith Wilson Road and Vedder Road (45 (192)
7. Lickman Road and Lickman Road onramp/offramp at Highway 1 – 44 (254)
8. Thomas Road and Vedder Road and mall access – 44 (182)
9. Kerr Avenue and Vedder Road and Yale Road – 43 (184)
10. Prest Road and Prest Road offramp – 39 (176)
• READ MORE: Chilliwack transportation document highlights high traffic roads
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