A single deer caused a major roadblock early Thursday morning, involving half a dozen drivers and both directions of traffic on the Pat Bay Highway.
A vehicle travelling in the northbound lane on the highway, near Haliburton Road, struck the deer around 6:40 a.m.
Two vehicles then rear ended the first car. The same deer ran towards the southbound lane, where it was struck a second time by a vehicle, that was then rear ended by two more cars, as well.
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An ambulance attended the scene for two of the six drivers, but nobody was transported to hospital. As for the deer, it was last seen fleeing east bound from the scene.
According to Chris Horsley, detective staff sergeant with the Saanich police, a car travelling at 80 km/hr can move about 20 metres per second, adding the average reaction time for a person is 1.5 seconds.
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“So before you even do anything — braking, stopping or just reacting — you’ve already travelled 30 metres,” he said.
Four of the six cars involved needed to be towed from the scene. Horsley says this a good reminder to leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you.
“There’s not much we can do about the deer strikes, but the other four were all a result of not being able to stop on time.”
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