A vehicle in a ditch may be interesting to look at but Sidney/North Saanich RCMP say motorists need to keep their eyes on the road ahead of them.
The RCMP’s message comes days after multiple vehicles crashed on Patricia Bay Highway.
According to a Sidney/North Saanich RCMP media release, an officer responded to a single-vehicle crash in the southbound lanes of the Patricia Bay Highway on July 7 when the officer’s vehicle – a silver unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe – was struck by a black Saturn SUV.
The officer on scene, according to Sidney/North Saanich RCMP, had turned their emergency lights and directional orange arrows and used their vehicle to block a portion of the highway prior to the collision occurring.
The crash caused significant damage to both the Chevrolet and the Saturn and traffic in both directions of the Patricia Bay Highway was heavily backed up. Meanwhile, the driver of the Saturn was later transported from the scene by emergency personnel for medical treatment, but no one else was injured in the collision, the RCMP said.
Following that collision, Sidney/North Saanich RCMP say another crash occurred a little while later in the northbound lanes of the Patricia Bay Highway after a motorist crashed into another vehicle that had slowed down to see all of the commotion from the second crash.
The third collision was minor as both vehicles were driveable and left the scene after exchanging information, the release noted.
Cpl. Chris Manseau of the British Columbia RCMP, said the three crashes highlight the dangerous first responders face when attending the scene of a crash.
“These collisions shows how dangerous collision scenes are to first responders, not only from the smoke, debris, fluids, and car parts, but other drivers on the road too,” Manseau said in a press release. “Fortunately these after collisions did not hurt any first responders on the scene.”
CHEK News
