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Vehicles slide off Highway 17 in Central Saanich after pulling over for emergency vehicle

Police responded to multiple calls in the municipality during, after snowfall
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This truck (along with a second vehicle) slid off Highway 17 in Central Saanich early Tuesday morning after pulling over for an emergency vehicle. (Facebook/South Vancouver Island Traffic Conditions)

Slow down, take your time, be mindful of the conditions.

That is the message from a senior police officer as adverse driving conditions following Monday’s snow storm continue to affect traffic across the Saanich Peninsula and the rest of Greater Victoria.

“We are still icy in spot,” said Derren Lench, deputy chief with Central Saanich Police. “Build in some extra time. Give the vehicle in front of you a little extra distance because you are just not going to have that breaking ability. Go with the slow moving traffic. Don’t be in a hurry because you are going to hit a patch and it is going to be a problem.”

Perhaps the most unusual incident Tuesday morning happened at around 9 a.m. in Central Saanich when two northbound vehicles, including a moving truck, slid into the ditch while travelling northbound on Highway 17 after pulling to the side for an emergency vehicle, after it had turned on its lights in responding to a call.

“In normal weather, you just pull over to the side,” said Lench. “But with roads being what they were, it ended up that the vehicles hit their brakes, and the UHaul and a second vehicle slid off the road and went into a ditch. There was also a minor fender bender in that crowd as well between Island View and Mount Newton.”

RELATED: All Greater Victoria BC Transit routes affected by icy roads

READ ALSO:Ferries running, hundreds still without power after snow hits Greater Victoria

Lench said the incident, which left the truck on its side, did not lead to injuries but did damage to the vehicles, and presumably the contents in the truck.

Yesterday’s snowfall left Central Saanich police “crazy busy” in responding to probably a dozen calls between 11 and 5 p.m. around the municipality, said Lench. Vehicles went off the road on Keating Cross Road, while other vehicles struggled to get up Island View, he said. “We had power lines down, cable lines down,” he said.

Police also responded to a minor collision between a bus and a vehicle, added Lench. “We had a vehicle slide off the road into a bus shelter on Stellys. The roads were not good yesterday.”


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wolfgang.depner@peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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