The Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges continue to be among the most common crash sites in the region, according to ICBC data from 2024 released on Wednesday (June 4).
The data includes crashes and injuries, auto crime, vehicle population, tickets issued, as well as data on injured pedestrians and cyclists, top crash locations by region, and crashes involving heavy vehicles, youth, motorcyclists, and hit-and-runs. A second update is scheduled to be released in fall 2024, which will include "2024 data on fatalities and police-reported crashes."
The data does not include crashes in parking lots or crashes involving parked vehicles.
In Surrey, the top three locations for crashes were the Port Mann Bridge & Port Mann East Service Road, with 177 reported; the area around the 104 Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp to Highway 1, with 175 crashes; and the turning lane at 88 Avenue and King George Boulevard, with 172 crashes. Of the top three locations, the Port Mann saw the most crashes in a month, with 30 reported in October.
This is different from 2023, when the 104 Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp to Highway 1 had the most number of reported crashes (201), the turning lane at 88 Avenue and King George Boulevard had 186 and the Port Mann had 181.
The data includes the crash type, casualties, which are crashes resulting in an injury or fatality, and those resulting in only property damage, which only result in "material damage."
The turning lane at 88 Avenue and King George Boulevard had the highest number of casualty crashes in 2024, with 79. The area around the 104 Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp to Highway 1 had 73 and the Port Mann Bridge had 65.
For the fourth consecutive year, in White Rock, the top three sites for crashes were 152 Street and 16 Avenue (Johnston Road and North Bluff Road), which had the most reported crashes in 2024, with 33, followed by 16 Avenue and Martin Drive, with 23, and 148 Street and North Bluff Road, with 13.
In fact, 152 Street and 16 Avenue have been the site of the most crashes in White Rock since 2017.
In Delta, the Alex Fraser saw the most crashes in 2024 with 481, followed by the Highway 17 and Highway 91 connector with 171. The Alex Fraser Bridge, Clivendale Avenue, and Cliveden Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp had the most crashes at an intersection in 2024 in all of B.C., at 481.
As the population in B.C. continues to grow, so does the number of insured drivers. "The latest data on vehicle population in B.C. shows that the number of actively insured vehicles in B.C. has increased year-over-year for the last five years, and most recently, from 3.6 million in 2023 to 3.7 million vehicles in 2024," noted ICBC.
ICBC noted that, "Crashes in B.C. have steadily increased over the last five years to 303,593 in 2024 since the significant reduction in crashes that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The insurance corporation expects the "frequency of crashes" to continue to increase this year but will level off.
