Serious crash at West Kildonan intersection known for collisions

Residents in West Kildonan say an intersection that was the site of a serious car crash Sunday morning is notoriously dangerous.

Rob Lick heard a loud bang around 7 a.m. and rushed out of his home on Leila to see what the commotion was. He saw two crushed SUVs, a white and black one, in the intersection. Police vehicles arrived shortly after.

“It sounded like when (garbage trucks) drop a big dumpster,” he said. “I heard somebody crying or wailing, they were standing by the vehicle so I don’t know who exactly it was or if someone was injured.”

The sound of sirens followed shortly after when emergency crews came to the scene. The intersection was immediately blocked off.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Pat Saydak confirmed the crash involved two vehicles near Leila and McGregor Street. He could not provide any more details on the crash, or say whether there were any injuries.

Around 11:30 a.m. a drone flew over the scene of the accident while forensics teams took photos of the crushed cars. Debris littered the intersection and evidence markers dotted the street. Police blocked the intersection in all ways while the scene was assessed.

Passerbys gawked at the carnage while police cadets were seen walking along a row of apartment buildings on McGregor. A streetlight post lay in the street about 30 metres away from the white SUV, which was flipped upside-down and reduced to a pile of twisted metal between two trees on the boulevard. One of the trees was knocked over, with its roots sticking up from the ground.

Leila from Powers Street to McGregor, and McGregor from Partridge Avenue to Templeton Avenue, were closed Sunday morning and traffic was being rerouted down Andrews Street. By 3:30 p.m. the roads had reopened.

Residents in the area who spoke with the Free Press said the intersection is the site of frequent accidents. Cars are often speeding down Leila, they said, and since one-way lanes and traffic lights don’t seem to be synced up, it creates hazardous conditions.

Lick sees accidents in the area regularly, and while speed could have been a factor in Sunday’s crash, he says the logistics of the area could be improved.

“I think it’s subliminal in terms of what people see at those lights because they’re so close together and they’re not synced that they both turn green at the same time. So the first one would be red, the second one will turn green and if you’re looking above the red light, you see green and you’re going to go,” he said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca