A late afternoon collision on East Luther Grand Valley Sideroad 21-22 and Concession 2-3 on Monday that caused a hydro outage for possibly six hours has resulted in a charge against an Orica Canada driver.

According to a rather sketchy police report, a commercial vehicle belonging to Orica was northbound on the sideroad. It failed to stop at the stop sign and the concession road (the extension of Grand Valley’s Amaranth Street that runs almost to Arthur), and collided with a westbound van belonging to Bush Enterprises of Fergus.

The 23-year-old driver of the van, a resident of the Durham area, was taken to Headwaters Health Care Centre but was later released. His name is being withheld by police and by a Bush official who declined to comment as the company owners are in China and hadn’t been notified of the collision as of Tuesday morning.

Fredrick Storrey, 52, also of the Durham area has been charged with failing to stop. A photo taken by East Luther resident Peter Turrell shows an Orica vehicle on the roadway and the overturned Bush vehicle in the ditch.

As collisions go, this one might be considered a minor occurrence except that it comes a few weeks ahead of an Ontario Municipal Board hearing into whether Orica should be granted permanent zoning for its explosives storage facility at the end of Sideroad 21- 22, near Luther Marsh.

Opponents of the zoning have consistently questioned Orica’s safety record and have expressed concerns about the transporting of potentially explosive materials. Orica had maintained that it has a good record of safety, and has shown that the essential ingredients for explosive devices are separated by steel compartments on its vehicles.

Following Monday’s collision, Orica regional manager Stan Harlen issued an advisory in which he said, “Emergency personnel ensured that the area was safe. There was no significant damage to the Orica vehicle or its contents.

“The accident is under investigation by the local authorities and Orica has and will continue to cooperate fully.”

Residents Pat Williams and Mr. Turrell aren’t convinced. “Will they continue to claim no accidents in Canada, or simply discount this one as they already have the others?” Ms. Williams asks in an email.

She concludes by saying she’s “thankful that there was no explosion, this time.”