A dump-truck crash on the Trans-Canada Highway in Langford Tuesday morning could have been much worse had it not been for centre medians in the busy roadway, West Shore RCMP say.
The northbound truck smashed into the centre median in rainy conditions Tuesday morning at about 5 a.m. on the highway near Spencer Close and McCallum Road.
West Shore RCMP Cpl. Nancy Saggar said the truck’s impact smashed several medians, pushing them into southbound lanes and scattering concrete chunks and pieces across the highway. The debris field from the impact extended more than 150 metres, said Saggar.
A southbound vehicle was unable to avoid the debris and swerved into a right-hand barrier. The driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
“We did not have any fatalities and we only had two vehicles involved, so really if we didn’t have those medians in place it could have been far, far worse,” said Saggar.
“Who knows where the dump truck would have ended up. It’s a very heavy vehicle and hard to stop.”
The crash snarled traffic just as the morning commute was starting and caused long delays while highway crews cleaned up the debris and a heavy tow truck lifted the mangled dump truck off the median. The road didn’t reopen to traffic until about 9:45 a.m.
Saggar said the outcome could have been much different if the crash had occurred in the height of morning rush hour with no medians.
“We’ve had in that area in particular head-on collisions in the past few years which prompted both the municipal and provincial governments to collaborate and say we need some more medians here.”
RCMP determined speed was a factor in the dump-truck crash and the driver was given a $167 ticket under the Motor Vehicle Act for speeding relative to road conditions.
Saggar did not give an estimate of the truck’s speed. “It was speeding for the conditions of the road at the time. It was wet and slippery and that is what caused this truck [driver] to lose control.”
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