Monday, February 4, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ West Shore Voice News
The driver of a northbound vehicle on Highway 1 near Leigh Road on February 3 has died following a head-on collision with a soundbound vehicle.
The two-vehicle collision occurred just after 1 pm in the same stretch of highway between Leigh Road and West Shore Parkway near the Leigh Road overpass where a two-vehicle head-on crash on January 8 resulted in one driver death as well.
It was first reported that the February 3 collision resulted in serious life-threatening injuries. A Traffic Reconstructionist along with the West Shore RCMP Traffic Unit and General Duty police officers worked on site to determine the cause of the collision.
There were 12 Langford firefighters on scene for 3.5 hours. The Jaws of Life were used to extract one or more persons from vehicle(s). “There were multiple serious injuries, some life threatening,” reports Lance Caven, Assistant Fire Chief of Fire Prevention, Langford Fire Rescue. He said that the road conditions were apparently normal at the time of the crash.
Investigators do not believe that drugs or alcohol were a factor. The exact cause of the collision is still under investigation.
The two vehicles involved in Sunday’s collision were a BMW and an Acura.
- The BMW was travelling southbound had two passengers on board. Police met with both passengers and there were no serious injuries reported by either.
- The Acura was travelling northbound and had three passengers on board. A 24-year-old Nanaimo man driving the Acura has passed away. The other two passengers were transported to the hospital with significant injuries.
“This is a very tragic incident. Although it is unknown if weather was a contributing factor in this case, it has since started snowing and we would like to remind motorists to please slow down and drive according to road conditions”, Cst. Nancy Saggar, West Shore RCMP.
West Shore RCMP Const. Nancy Saggar notes that since January 2017 there have been 79 collisions between the Leigh Road overpass and just north of West Shore Parkway. She added that those numbers only reflect collisions that were reported to police. More than 40 of those collisions were in an area without medians.
Langford Mayor Stew Young is now calling for lane barriers, to help prevent these sorts of crashes in future.
If anyone witnessed this collision and has not yet spoken to the West Shore RCMP please call us at 250-474-2264 or report anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
February 3: RCMP advise of two-vehicle collision February 3 on Hwy 1 near Leigh Rd
January 25: Driver in one of the January 8 MVI vehicles has died
January 8 news report: Two drivers taken to hospital with injuries following head-on crash on Trans Canada near Leigh Road