The intersection at McBride Street and 5th Avenue was the most dangerous in Prince Rupert in 2024.
There were seven crashes at the intersection last year, according to statistics recently released by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). Of those, four involved casualties.
The second-worst location in the city was the intersection at McBride and 9th Avenue, which saw five crashes—only one of those involved casualties.
Four locations saw four crashes: 11th Avenue East and Conrad Street, 2nd Avenue and 3rd Street and Hwy 16 and Ridley Island Road.
In total, 116 crashes in Prince Rupert were reported to ICBC in 2024, 23 of which involved casualties. Three involved pedestrians and two involved cyclists.
The statistics do not include incidents not reported to the insurance company, those not involving damage and those that occurred in parking lots.
ICBC also reports a five-year running total. Since 2020, McBride Street and 5th Avenue holds the title with 22 crashes followed by the intersection at McBride and 3rd Avenue with 19.
While the infamous "five corners" — described by ICBC as the intersection of 1st Ave W & 2nd Ave W & 3rd Ave W & Park Ave & Turning Lane — is often cited as being the most dangerous in Prince Rupert, it only ranks 11th in the ICBC data with only 10 crashes reported between 2020 and 2024.
The main causes of collisions remain distracted driving (mainly electronic device use), speeding and impaired driving (alcohol or drugs).
In 2024, police in Prince Rupert issued 379 tickets for speeding, 19 for driving without due care and attention, 13 for electronic device use and 24 for impaired driving.
Vehicle population
The new ICBC dataset also shows the number and types of vehicles registered and the numbers and types of driver licences held.
In 2024, there were 9,933 vehicles registered in Prince Rupert. Of those, 6,678 were classified for personal use, 1,433 for business use and 1,822 for "other" uses.
In terms of vehicle types, 4,855 were passenger vehicles and 3,310 were commercial. Other types of vehicles included: utility trailers (1,256), commercial trailers (370), motorcycles/mopeds (91) and motorhomes (51).
By far and away, gasoline-powered vehicles are still dominant in Prince Rupert with 7,138 registered. Diesel is second at 887. Over the five years, however, the number of electric and hybrid vehicles in the city has been growing steadily.
In 2020, there were just 99 hybrid vehicles in the city. As of 2024, there were 229. Similarly, the number of fully electric vehicles went from just eight five years ago to 50 last year.
In 2024, 8,256 Rupertites held driver licences, 5,756 of which were Class 5, which allows a person to drive passenger vehicles such as cars, SUVs and vans, some trucks and utility vehicles, as well as, to tow trailers that weigh up to 4,600 kg.
Just over 1,000 people held licences in various stages of the graduated learners program.
Vehicle crime
ICBC did not report vehicle crime by municipality in the latest release. However, the data indicates there were 506 vehicles stolen, 120 vehicles broken into, and 920 incidents of vandalism reported in the North Central region for 2024.
