Driver of SUV dead after hitting south Edmonton house

A 31-year-old man is dead after he crashed his SUV on Thursday morning.

Emergency crews were called to Silver Berry Road between 32 Street and 28 Avenue around 2:30 a.m. after a 2004 Porsche Cayenne crashed into a home.

It was reported to police that the driver of the SUV was driving west on Silver Berry Road towards 32 Street when he lost control in the curve, drove across the eastbound lanes, and struck a curb. The SUV then reportedly went across the sidewalk and hit a fire hydrant, some trees, a fence and the house, where it came to a stop.

The driver, the lone person in the SUV, was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.

The crash is still under investigation, but police say speed and alcohol are believed to be factors.

In 2016, a 40-year-old man died in the same area after crashing a dirt bike.

'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'

Kevin Kreklau has called the neighbourhood home for 19 years and says he's reached out to the city several times with concerns about drivers not abiding by the speed limit.

"It's been 19 years of accidents, speeding," Kreklau said. "That fence has been run into before."

"Nothing's really been done to curb the speeding," he added. "They've put the onus back on us. They've given us signs to put up. They've asked us to create community groups to work on speeding but nothing that's going to stop the issue."

Despite living across the street from a playground, Kreklau said he and his wife never let their kids cross the road alone. The couple gave their kids a whistle to blow so that one of them could come and help them cross.

He believes Silver Berry Road needs speedbumps to force drivers to slow down.

"I've asked for speedbumps multiple times," Kreklau told CTV News Edmonton. "(The city) say that there's no funding for it and that it's a bus route and it won't work."

"Enough is enough," he added. "Two people have died on this road in the last four years. It's been people in vehicles doing high rates of speed or doing something that they shouldn't be doing.

"It's going to get to the point where a kid's going to get hit when they're crossing the road or going to the park. It's a really busy park. It's a really busy road. Nothing has been really done to slow it down, other than putting in a 30 (km/h playground zone), a slower speed, but if you aren't monitoring that, it doesn't matter."

Sandeep Sarvte believes creating an intersection with stop signs will help slow down traffic in the area.

"This is a very big playground zone," Sarvte said. "Lots of people do speeding here."

"People sometimes don't brake or anything," he added. "Lots of people just don't have patience here, and they just speed up."

TRYING TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE: WRIGHT

Jo-Anne Wright, Ward Sspomitapi councillor, said concerns about speeders are not just limited to along Silver Berry Road but to the entire ward and other areas of the city.

"We've got concerns over on 44 Street, concerns over on Millwoods Road in around 48 Street where there were also some traffic fatalities a few years ago," Wright said.

"I have talked to other councillors, and it does seem to be a problem throughout the city as well, just the way these long stretches of road throughout the developments have been put in," she added. "I think it is a city-wide concern."

Wright said she would be following up with the Edmonton Police Service and the city's Vision Zero Street Labs program to see if anything can be done to bring speeds down.

With the province's freeze on creating new photo radar enforcement sites, Wright said the city's options for enforcement are limited.

"We are trying to do everything to address the issue, so this doesn't happen again," she said.

"We can't go another summer with these incidents going on."

Later Thursday evening, Wright said EPS would complete a traffic safety review in the Silver Berry area and provide recommendations to council for further action in the coming weeks.