A Cochrane man is facing impaired driving charges related to a fatal collision in which four Filipino temporary workers were killed near Innisfail late Sunday night.
A fifth passenger was critically injured in the head-on collision on Highway 2, when the workers' vehicle was struck by a white Range Rover travelling north in the southbound lanes around 11: 10 p.m.
The five victims are from Edmonton and were in a Dodge Journey crossover vehicle.
According to several media reports, the 28-year-old accused is from Cochrane.
He suffered minor injuries and was to have a bail hearing over the phone with a Calgary justice Monday, followed by a court appearance in Red Deer today, according to RCMP.
He faces four counts of impaired driving causing death, one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm and one charge of failing to provide a breath sample.
RCMP say witness accounts reported the SUV travelling the wrong way in the southbound lanes of the Queen Elizabeth 2 Highway.
A Carstairs man posted on his Facebook page that he was nearly hit by the same Range Rover and told Global TV that he swerved out of the way about 15 minutes before the fatal collision.
Two men, both aged 35, and two women, ages 39 and 52, died in the collision. A 28-year-old woman was transported to University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, where she was in critical condition. Names have not yet been released.
The victims were Filipino temporary foreign workers.
Three of the dead worked in housekeeping at the downtown Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel.
Hotel manager Kelly McCauley told CTV hotel staff were “shocked, stunned, and saddened beyond belief. They are like family ....They were brothers and sisters to us.”
Though it's yet to be determined if alcohol played a role in Sunday's crash, Jan Kennema, president of the Calgary chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said he's alarmed that a lot of young drivers still feel they can get away with drinking alcohol and operating a motor vehicle.
"We're seeing this way too often," said Kennema. "I find it troubling it's the younger generation that isn't getting the point. With the older generation you could say, well, those are just bad habits from earlier days, but (young people) just aren't getting the message despite the heavier penalties and the fact that drinking and driving has been so high profile in media coverage in the past few months."
In 2010, 22 per cent of fatal collisions in Alberta involved a driver who had consumed some alcohol, according to Alberta Transportation.
That year, 96 deaths and 1,384 injuries occurred in alcohol-related collisions.
Males between 18 and 24 years old are most likely to have been drinking before a crash, according to provincial statistics.
The issue of drinking and driving has been in the news lately because of Premier Alison Redford's push to bring in Bill 26, which would punish drivers caught with a .05 blood alcohol volume with licence suspensions and awareness courses.
The controversial bill has passed but has not come into force. A reading of .08 is required to lay criminal charges.
Kennema said it's difficult to know what else can be done to discourage people from getting behind the wheel after they've consumed alcohol.
"It's hard to say what further can be done," he said. "We're making the laws tougher. You hear the campaigns around the holidays and long weekends all the time. We're in the schools with a really impactful video presentation.
"You really hope that sooner or later the ball's going to drop and they're going to get it."
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