A deadly single-vehicle crash has closed the Trans Canada Highway at the Bamberton exit, south of Mill Bay on Vancouver Island.
Three people were inside the car when it collided with a median and then hit a rock wall on the Malahat, a notorious 24-kilometere stretch of the Trans-Canada highway that is twisty, windy and sometimes deadly.
READ MORE: Province launches Malahat improvements; traffic delays expected
Police said the driver was a 45-year-old man from Victoria, a 60-year-old female passenger and a 46-year-old male passenger both from Esquimalt that were killed in the crash. The 46-year-old was seated in the front passenger side and died of his injuries while being taken to the hospital.
Shawnigan Lake RCMP and RCMP South Island Traffic Services said the cause of the crash is under investigation. Police have not rules out the possibility of drug impairment on the part of the driver.
The highway was closed for several hours as police investigated the scene.
In May 2014, the province kicked off the Malahat improvement project, a second round of upgrades designed to make the road safer. Work includes widening a stretch of the highway and installing 2.3 kilometres of median barriers from Shawnigan Lake Road to the Malahat Summit, an area dubbed “NASCAR Corner” by locals. The entire $15 million project is slated to be completed this spring.
The deaths of three people in a 2012 crash prompted calls for the improvements.
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