UPDATED: Fatal collision at site of unactivated lights

A 49-year-old woman is dead and the driver of a semi truck has been arrested following a collision at the intersection of  Highway 110 and Richmond Avenue east on Wednesday afternoon.

In a press release issued Thursday morning, Brandon Police say officers had determined that a northbound semi-truck failed to stop at the stop sign while approaching the intersection. The traffic lights at this intersection are currently unactivated. The semi proceeded through the intersection “at highway speeds” and then collided with a westbound SUV driven by a lone 49-year-old female driver.

According to police, the force of the collision caused both vehicles to further collide with a secondary parked semi-truck that was facing southbound and stopped at the intersection. The collision forced the closure of roads in the area on Wednesday afternoon and as of Thursday morning the roads were still closed.

First responders pronounced the 49-year-old woman dead at the scene. Police say her next of kin have been notified.

“Brandon Police Service would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones affected by the fatal collision that occurred yesterday,” the BPS press release stated.

When the Sun arrived at the scene, the SUV appeared to be crumpled into the front end of one of the semi-trucks in the middle of the intersection. Police, firefighters, community cadets and tow-truck operators were all on scene at around 5 p.m. Traffic was blocked off in all directions leading to the intersection.

Police say neither semi-truck driver appeared to have any significant injuries.

Officers arrested the male driver of the northbound semi-truck. Thirty-five-year-old Brijpal Panwar has been charged with Dangerous Driving Causing Death. He remains in custody as was scheduled to be in court Thursday morning in Brandon.

Police have requested that anyone who witnessed the collision or who may have dash camera or video footage from the area at the time of the incident to reach out to the Traffic Unit at (204) 729-2345.

The intersection had been the site of a deadly crash in 2021 after a three-vehicle collision when a car failed to stop at a stop sign along Highway 110.

Last year, occupants of a car involved in a crash were described by the Brandon Police Service as being lucky to be alive.

Another crash in 2014 between two semi-trucks sent one driver to hospital and caused 10,000 litres of diesel fuel to be spilled on the roadway.

Initial work on traffic lights at the intersection started last summer, and the lights have been covered with tarps ever since.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor in February said supply-chain issues were to blame for the lights not having been activated and that they were expected to be operating this summer.

At the time, she said the intersection is already considered “safe” and is operating under appropriate traffic controls. The lights, she said, “will make it safer.”

The minister is scheduled to speak with the Sun later this afternoon.

The intersection sees regular traffic from drivers bypassing the city’s core to the east and gets a steady stream of semi-trucks that turn at the intersection toward the Canada Packers pork processing plant.

» The Brandon Sun