Comox Valley emergency personnel attended their third fatal vehicle accident in 10 days early Friday morning, preceded by minor car accidents earlier last week.
Around Friday at 7:30 a.m., RCMP and first responders attended a head-on collision near the Merville Store on Highway 19A.
A 56-year-old Black Creek man died as a result of the crash, and the BC Coroner’s office along with the assistance of a traffic analyst are working with the RCMP to determine the cause of the collision.
“The long weekend is upon us, of course, and we’re urging everyone to be careful if they are travelling anywhere,” said Courtenay fire chief Don Bardonnex.
The road conditions at the time of the accident were wet but overall seemed fine, he added.
The driver of the other vehicle — there was only one occupant in each vehicle — was taken to St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox with non-life-threatening injuries.
“The vehicle had to be moved around a bit to get the patient out. It was a high-velocity impact; the patient seems in fairly good condition,” he noted.
Comox Valley RCMP Const. Shawna Leblanc noted the summer months add an increased amount of vehicles on the highway. She urged drivers to slow down.
“We try to relay to the public as best as we can to slow down, there is nothing that is that crucial or that pressing that you need to speed on the highway,” she added.
Thursday afternoon, a traffic accident at Headquarters and Merville roads caused a power outage in the area and the driver was trapped inside the vehicle while emergency personnel deduced how to proceed with power lines down.
That was quickly followed by a second, unrelated accident at the base of Comox Hill on Comox Road. A vehicle with a driver and a family pet slammed into a power pole, temporarily shutting traffic in both directions.
On May 8, a fatal single-vehicle collision occurred on the Inland Island Highway near Piercy Road in Courtenay. A 42-year-old Campbell River man was ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal head trauma.
Two days later, a 29-year-old woman died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash in the Merville area.
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