A vehicle collision near the corner of Oliver Road and Hill Street has residents in the area calling it one of the city’s most dangerous intersections.
Thunder Bay Police Service officers responded to a call about a two-vehicle collision near Oliver Road and Hill Street around 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Both cars received major damage and had to be towed away. Paramedics took the woman who was driving a silver Hundai Accent to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre with minor injuries.
Police say the driver of the Accent didn’t stop at the stop sign and crashed into a red Chevy Malibu. Police charged her with failure to stop at a posted stop sign.
Len Metza has lived on the corner of Hill Street and Oliver Road for about two years and he said he’s never seen so many close calls in his life. He often sits on his front porch and watches as drivers try to beat crossing traffic to get across the road. He said it’s one of the city’s most dangerous corners and believed it was the fourth collision in the area this year.
"I hope no one gets killed," Metza said.
Last week Metza’s neighbour Jackie Crompton made similar comments about the area when a minivan struck a teenage boy riding on his bike. The boy, believed to be 14, and friends stopped to take pictures of a double rainbow near Oliver Road and Hill Street when a vehicle struck him.
Crompton said she thinks Oliver Road and Hill Street is one of the city’s most dangerous intersections.
"They need to put streetlights or something here to stop this," she said.
City police Sgt. Glenn Porter said that Oliver Road and Hill Street wasn’t any more dangerous than any other part of the city.
"I would say that intersection isn’t any worse than any other," Porter said. "Oliver Road is a four-lane arterial and I don’t understand why anyone would not expect to stop."
--- Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter: @Labine_reporter
