Langford suffered two crash scenes Thursday morning resulting in minor injuries and tied up traffic.
Around 10:30 a.m., a blue Mazda driving south on the Malahat Drive lost control, drove into the ditch and then veered into the oncoming lane. The small car was T-boned by a large pickup truck, said West Shore Cpl. Kathy Rochlitz.
The Mazda came to rest against a rock wall north of the Goldstream park entrance. Langford Fire Rescue crews extricated a woman from the Mazda and she was transported to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Nobody else was hurt.
The Malahat was closed in both directions during the rescue and the cleanup of vehicle fluids. The crash was north of Finlayson Arm Road, leaving no access for a traffic detour.
BC Ferries added an afternoon sailing between Mill Bay and Brentwood Bay. Single-lane traffic is now moving through the crash area.
It’s unclear what prompted the crash, although the highway was still wet from overnight rain. Rochlitz said alcohol wasn’t a factor but the driver may have been going too fast for the conditions. There was a similar crash in on the Malahat the same area Wednesday night, she noted.
“I think we can say road conditions played a factor,” Rochlitz said. “People still think it’s summer driving. We’re going into fall, the rain is here and we’ve got to slow down and adjust to driving conditions.”
Crash on Veterans Memorial Parkway
Around the same time as the Malahat crash, a 56-year-old woman driving northbound on Veterans Memorial Parkway past Meaford Avenue rammed into a tree in the road meridian.
A witness said the impact lifted the silver sedan off the ground as it spun 180 degrees. With much of Langford fire department’s resources busy on the Malahat, Colwood Fire Rescue performed the extrication, cutting apart the door with the jaws of life as a BC Ambulance paramedic braced the woman’s neck.
She was transported to hospital with minor injuries. West Shore RCMP Const. Harrison Teed said speed or alcohol was not a factor in the crash, and its unclear why the lone driver drifted up onto the curb and hit the tree, which was damaged but still standing.
Two northbound lanes of VMP were closed for about an hour, backing up traffic near Westshore Town Centre and into Colwood.
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