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Homes in Oak Bay evacuated after car crashes into natural gas line

Fire department evacuated residents for several hours Nov. 22
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Oak Bay Police officers frequently conduct speed enforcement in local school zones. (Flavio Nienow/News staff)

A vehicle crashed into a house in the 2000 block of Beach Drive in Oak Bay Thursday evening.

Oak Bay police said it was just after 8 p.m. on Nov. 22 when they were called after a 24-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle while trying to pass another vehicle. He crossed into the oncoming lane, jumped the curb, struck a tree and drove through a hedge before hitting the house and damaging the natural gas metre.

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Surrounding homes were evacuated by the Oak Bay Fire Department until the scene was cleared at 11 p.m. Fortis BC repaired the system, but it is unknown how much the house was damaged. The vehicle had to be towed from the scene.

No one in the home was injured, however the 24-year-old driver and his passenger had minor injuries from their seatbelts.

Oak Bay Police Chief Andy Brinton said impairment was not a factor. “We know the roads were wet. I don’t know if it was actually raining at the time,” he said. “Just be careful now that we’re in the rainy season.”

“The reality is this guy shouldn’t have been trying to pass the car… This is a bit of an anomaly because of what this guy was doing. We don’t routinely have cars going off the road out of control on wet pavement. In this case, it was the behaviour he was doing that caused the accident.”

The driver was ticketed for driving without due care and failure to display the new driver sign.

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@KeiliBartlett
keili.bartlett@blackpress.ca

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