Friday September 17, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
In the span of 1 hour and 40 minutes there were four motor vehicle incidents requiring the attendance of West Shore RCMP officers.
All the incidents — one in Langford, two in Colwood and one in View Royal — interrupted traffic and some resulted in people being transported to hospital. RCMP believe they were mostly if not all related to the wet weather that was suddenly upon the south Vancouver Island area this morning after a long summer drought.
RCMP Media Relations Officer Cst Alex Bérubé provided these details to media:
6 am – TRANS CANADA HIGHWAY (Hwy 1) NEAR THETIS LAKE. BC Transit bus rolled over while travelling southbound on Hwy 1 near Thetis Lake. Bus was empty, lone driver attempted to avoid possible hazard caused by another vehicle ahead. The bus driver was taken to hospital by ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries.
7 am – WALE ROAD & GOLDSTREAM AVE. Two-vehicle collision. A blue Nissan Leaf had turned in front of a blue Ford pickup, resulting in a head-on collision, based on witness information. The driver of the pickup truck was transported to hospital by ambulance.
7 am – 400 BLOCK GOLDSTREAM AVE (near Wale Road). A three-vehicle collision resulted in a rear-ender. No injuries were reported. However, due to heavy traffic (work day, school day, construction in the area), tow trucks were delayed in attending the area.
7:40 am – LANGFORD PARKWAY & PHIPPS ROAD (commercial shopping area). A female pedestrian was hit by a vehicle. She was not seriously injured. The driver remained on scene to cooperate with the investigation.
Wet weather driving tips:
- Use your headlights but avoid using your high beams. Headlights help make you visible to other drivers and pedestrians but high beams can reflect back and reduce your ability to see other road users.
- Don’t use cruise control in the rain. If you hydroplane in cruise control your wheels can reach an excessive speed while they’re not in contact with the road, which means you’ll be jolted forward once the wheels make contact again.
- Leave extra space between you and the vehicle in front. The three-second rule applies in good weather but you should double it to six seconds for light rain/fog and triple it to nine seconds for heavy rain/fog. If the vehicle in front of you is a commercial vehicle or a bus, leave even more room.
- Slow down. Posted speed limits assume good road and weather conditions so go below the limit to say safe in wet weather and low visibility.
- Beware of other vehicles around you. Larger vehicles such as trucks, buses and trailers are especially affected by heavy rain.
- Adjust your planned travel time to include sufficient time to fully demist/defog all your windows.
