Vehicle crashes in the Castlegar area continued to climb in 2023, but still have not reached pre-pandemic levels.
According to ICBC’s latest motor vehicle incident data, there were 590 crashes in Castlegar in 2023, up from 560 in both 2021 and 2022. In 2019 there were 629 crashes, and then 2020 saw a drastic drop to 512 at the height of the COVID pandemic.
There were an additional 32 crashes in Robson, 10 in Pass Creek, eight in Thrums, five in Ootischenia and one in Raspberry in 2023.
Considering that most of Castlegar traffic flows down Columbia Avenue, it is no surprise that more than one-third of all crashes (196) happened on the city's main thoroughfare.
There were 129 crashes on Highway 3/3A and Highway 22 saw 14. Other hot spots included Pass Creek Road (17), 18th Street (12), 6th Avenue (12) Broadwater Road (9) and Frank Beinder Way (9).
As far as intersections go, the Columbia Avenue/Highway 3 off ramp had the most problems with 14 crashes. This was followed by Columbia Avenue/18th Street/8th Avenue with seven crashes.
The statistics also show that Castlegar drivers may want to use more caution in parking lots since 217 crashes occurred in them.
Most crashes only involved property damage, but 75 involved personal injuries. Two pedestrians, four cyclists and 75 animals were struck in crashes during the year.
Parked vehicles were involved in 169 crashes, and 256 of the total incidents were single-vehicle crashes.
