4 people dead after 3 separate collisions on New Brunswick roads within 24 hours

4 people dead after 3 separate collisions on New Brunswick roads within 24 hours

Wrong-way driver dies in crash south of Fredericton, 2 others killed on bridge, pedestrian killed in Moncton

It's been a deadly 24 hours on New Brunswick highways, with four people killed in three separate collisions.

New Brunswick RCMP say a young man died Thursday night after a wrong-way crash on a highway outside Fredericton. In Moncton, a man believed to have been walking along the highway was killed when struck by a vehicle early Friday morning.

Later Friday morning, a crash on the Princess Margaret Bridge involving a car and a transport truck killed two women, Fredericton police said. They did not provide the ages of the victims or their hometown.

“Two of the female passengers of the car were pronounced deceased at the scene, and a third was transported to hospital," said a Fredericton police news release issued at about 1:45 p.m. "The driver of the transport truck was also taken to hospital."

The bridge remained closed in both directions until 5 p.m. while police, including forensic units, investigated.

“The cause and circumstances of the collision are under investigation," police said.

The bridge, part of Route 8, has a single lane in each direction, with a 70-kilometre-an-hour speed limit, no divider in the centre and no shoulders.

Pedestrian hit by truck, police believe

In Moncton, a 54-year old man from Hammonds Plains, N.S., was killed in an early morning crash on the Trans-Canada Highway.

A news release late Friday afternoon said Codiac RCMP officers responded a report of a collision between a person and a vehicle around 2:50 a.m. on Friday.

"When police arrived, they located a deceased man on the roadside, believed to have been struck by a transport vehicle," the release said. "The driver of the transport truck was not injured."

Investigators do not believe criminality was involved, the release said, adding that the man had been observed walking along the highway nearly an hour before the crash.

CBC News reached out to Codiac RCMP but hasn't had a response.

The incident happened between the Mapleton and Gorge road exits on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Police are asking anyone who was travelling on the highway between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., and who might have dash camera footage, to contact them.

Earlier, an RCMP release said officers from Oromocto responded Thursday to reports of a driver travelling in the wrong direction at a high rate of speed on Highway 7 near Waasis at about 9:40 p.m.

While on their way to respond, the officers received a report of a two-vehicle collision.

On arrival, they found a 23-year old New Maryland man, the driver who'd been driving on the wrong side of the divided highway, suffering from life-threatening injuries, the release said.

He was taken to hospital, where he later died.

The driver of the second vehicle suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. He was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital.

It's believed the two vehicles collided head-on, the release said.

The RCMP confirmed Friday that the wrong-way driver was heading north on the southbound side of the divided Route 7. The crash happened just before where Route 7 merges with the Trans-Canada Highway, west of the Nevers Road exit.

The dead man’s identity was not disclosed. The release said an autopsy is being conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

Sam Farley is a Fredericton-based reporter at CBC New Brunswick. Originally from Boston, he is a journalism graduate of the University of King's College in Halifax. He can be reached at sam.farley@cbc.ca