Wednesday March 1, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated March 2, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
On Thursday February 23 a person was struck by a vehicle at the corner of Alouette Drive and Langford Lake Road in the Westhills area of Langford at about 4:40 pm.
West Shore RCMP says the female pedestrian incurred abrasions.
The vehicles was “travelling at low speeds, likely less than 15 km/hour,” says West Shore RCMP Cpl Nancy Saggar. “The vehicle came to a stop at the intersection and proceeded apparently not seeing the pedestrian who was struck and had abrasions.”
There could have been icy road conditions, as the temperature high reached 1°C that day and fell to about -2° at night.
The driver was charged under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving without due care and attention, says RCMP. That is not a criminal offence; it incurs a minimum $100 fine but can be as high as $2,000 though most fines are apparently issued around $368. There is a penalty of either a disqualification, or between 3 and 9 points.
Heavily traveled intersection:
Driver behaviour at that intersection has been less than stellar for many years. Prior to the eventual installation of a 4-way stop in May 2020 vehicles could be seen travelling through the intersection without even attempting to stop, let alone applying brakes for a rolling stop.
The intersection still gets a lot of traffic flow even after installation of the the 4-way stop at it serves a busy section of Westhills.
Alouette has been used for years by drivers crossing town to get to Langford Parkway (which leads to West Shore Parkway and Highway 1 in one direction and to a major commercial and recreation vicinity in the other), and with a short jaunt on Langford Parkway over to Leigh Road by Starlight Stadium which leads to Hwy 1 and Bear Mountain.
When approaching from Alouette, a right hand turn onto Langford Lake Road brings drivers almost immediately to the Belmont Secondary School entrance and not far beyond to Starlight Stadium and a major commercial shopping area; turning left leads around a curve then down a short hill to Langford Parkway (where intersection signal lights were installed in August 2022) where there is access to West Shore Parkway, a commercial office area and community area including the YMCA/YWCA and the Heritage Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library.
Back in June 2021, due to resident pressure on Langford city council regarding the heavy traffic load on Alouette, vertical posts were promptly installed down the middle of the road, as a way to discourage high vehicle speed.
No further information:
The February 23 incident has not yet been detailed in a police report, and the City of Langford has no comment (as the matter is with police). The incident was apparently discussed in social media by a private local Westhills residents group on Facebook.
Anyone with more information is welcome to send that to news@islandsocialtrends.com .
===== RELATED:
LANGFORD TRAFFIC: Alouette roundabout curb repairs (Feb 16, 2023)
Done! New traffic lights at Langford Parkway & Langford Lake Rd (Aug 16, 2022)
Road in old Westhills get tons of cross-town traffic (June 9, 2021)
New 4-way stop attempts traffic flow management at Alouette & Langford Lake (July 30, 2020)
West Shore Traffic Advisories & Drive BC webcams [Island Social Trends]