Keep your eyes on the road if you are driving through Front and Hall Streets.
Annual crash data released by ICBC shows Front and Hall is the most-accident prone intersection in Nelson. There were 21 collisions at the location in 2024, of which five resulted in what ICBC says was either a personal injury or fatality.
Crashes have gradually increased at the intersection over the last five years. There were just two collisions in 2020, nine in 2021, eight in 2022 and 12 in 2023.
Front Street is a stretch of Highway 3A where the speed limit is 50 km/h instead of the city's limit of 40 km/h, and is also the main artery connected to Nelson Avenue and Vernon Street by which commuters enter and exit Nelson.
Front and Hall has a traffic-controlled light and three left turns, but ICBC's data map does not break down how accidents occur at intersections.
Mayor Janice Morrison believes the rise in accidents is a mix of increased vehicles in the city and drivers who aren't always paying attention.
“I'd say it's volume, I'd say it's distracted driving. I would even go so far as to say that speed, to certain extent, is involved.”
The intersection is also near the parking lot for the Nelson and District Community Complex, and is the main route for commuters driving onto Lakeside Drive. Hall Street Place on the intersection's southeast corner was opened in 2021, but Morrison said she doesn't believe the building, which includes 41 units and Nelson CARES' offices, has contributed to the rise in accidents.
The second most accidents in 2024 occurred at the Government Road, Granite Road and Highway 6 intersection at Nelson's western entrance, where there were 15 collisions including six that resulted in either injury or fatality. There have been 62 accidents at the intersection since 2020, the most in the city over five years ahead of 52 at Front and Hall.
There were 270 total vehicle accidents in Nelson last year, 53 of which caused injury or a fatality. Other intersections where repeat accidents occurred in 2024 include Baker and Stanley Streets (12), and Front and Poplar Streets (seven).
B.C. had 303,593 collisions in 2024. The majority of accidents occurred in the Lower Mainland, where there were 202,420 incidents. The Southern Interior region, which includes Nelson, had 41,608.
