A round of applause erupted from an otherwise tense, quiet crowd looking on as emergency crews successfully removed the driver of a flipped semi-truck on the off ramp to Millstream Road from the Trans-Canada Highway Thursday morning.
Fire departments from View Royal and Langford worked for over an hour with BC Ambulance to remove the approximately 30-year-old female driver of the truck, who was then taken by ambulance to Victoria General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
"(It) lost control for some reason, hit the … barrier and flipped over onto its side," Langford Fire Rescue Lt. Brian Bell said. "Since we've been on scene she's been conscious the whole time. … It did take a long time and her condition did start to deteriorate, she was getting cold, possibly going into shock a little bit near the end, but fortunately we were able to free her."
Emergency crews on site said it was too early to determine just what happened, but a long trail of tire skid marks from the truck suggest a turn taken to fast. A traffic analyst was coming from up Island to investigate, and both the northbound on and off ramps were expected to be closed until about 2 p.m.
A West Shore RCMP constable on the scene said the driver has only been driving trucks for about six months and her delivery was coming from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.
Original story:
Emergency crews are in the process of freeing a driver from the cab of his semi trailer truck, which rolled onto its side on the Millstream Road west off-ramp leading from the Trans Canada Highway.
Details of the mid-morning Thursday accident are sketchy, but emergency personnel from Langford and View Royal fire departments, ambulance and tow operators are on the scene.
A large two truck had the overturned truck secured with chains attached to its undercarriage to allow rescue personnel to work on getting the driver out.
Traffic is being rerouted to the eastbound lane of the off-ramp along Millstream Road, but traffic is flowing westward over the bridge.
Watch vicnews.com for updates.