The Thanksgiving long weekend has been deadly on B.C.’s roads.
Separate crashes across the province have left six people dead, at least two others fighting for their lives in hospital, and at least five people recovering from injuries.
Two separate and unrelated collisions occurred in Williams Lake.
At around 7:30 p.m. Friday, a 58-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene after his vehicle went off the road on Horsefly Road about 20 kilometers north of 150 Mile House. Constable McKinnon with Williams Lake RCMP says the driver may have fallen asleep behind the wheel or possibly suffered a medical condition while driving.
A few hours later, just after midnight, two people died in single vehicle collision on South Lakeside Drive in Williams Lake. A southbound vehicle went off the road, entered a ditch and went down a slight embankment. The male driver and passenger died at the scene. The 21-year-old female passenger is in critical, but stable condition. The cause of both crashes is still under investigation.
In southeast B.C., a 44-year-old man is dead after his car hit a cow on Highway 3, just east of Cranbrook early Saturday morning.
“A vehicle that was travelling eastbound hit a cow on the roadway. Subsequently that vehicle lost control and side swiped a semi that was travelling westbound,” says Constable Shmyr with East Kootenay Traffic Services, “the vehicle that hit the cow lost control and ended up in the ditch. It then caught on fire and the driver of the tractor trailer unit exited his vehicle and tried to put the fire out.”
A 75-year-old man died of his injuries after being struck by a vehicle in Coquitlam. The pedestrian was crossing the intersection of Mariner Way and Dewdney Trunk Road shortly after 7 p.m. The driver of the GMC van remained at the scene and is assisting RCMP in their investigation. It was raining heavily at the time of the crash.
One person is dead and five others are badly hurt after a two vehicle collision at Highway 10 and 132nd Street in Surrey Friday night. Witnesses told Global News a vehicle was turning left onto 132nd and slammed into another vehicle that was passing through the intersection. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Also in Surrey, an elderly woman is suffering from critical injuries after she was hit by a northbound vehicle at Bear Creek Drive and 140th Street Saturday morning. RCMP say she was at a marked crosswalk. The driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with investigators. The cause of the crash is not known, but the roads were wet at the time.
According to ICBC statistics, there have been an average of 1800 crashes over the Thanksgiving weekend, 1100 of those are in Metro Vancouver. On average, three people are killed and 520 people injured in B.C. over the Thanksgiving long weekend.
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