Three people were seriously injured and airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital after two separate motor vehicle crashes in Roberts Creek last Saturday and Monday.
Charges are expected for the driver of the first crash that occurred at about 9 a.m. Sept. 16 on Lower Road and Leek Road, according to Sunshine Coast RCMP Const. Glen Martin. Police investigation found speed and unsafe passing may have preceded the vehicle rolling over in the ditch then landing back on its wheels in the middle of the road.
The driver of the single vehicle crash fled the scene. The two passengers, a man and a woman both in their 20s, were ejected from the car and later taken from the scene by helicopter. On Tuesday afternoon, Martin said the passengers were considered stable in hospital after being removed from the intensive care unit where they had arrived in critical condition. They had been visiting the Coast on a vacation work program from outside Canada, according to Martin.
Police later apprehended the male driver and took him to St. Mary's Hospital to be checked for injuries. He was released from hospital into police custody.
Lower Road was closed for eight hours to investigate and Highway 101 was closed for an hour and a half to bring in the helicopter.
On Monday, Sept. 18, on Highway 101 just north of Crowe Road, a stacked trailer hanging off the back load of a commercial vehicle ripped off a piece of an oncoming Acura's roof framing. According to Const. Kurt Rosenberg, the Acura then went into the ditch and its driver was unconscious wearing his seatbelt with the air bag deployed when police arrived. The Acura driver was airlifted to hospital with serious head injuries.
A metal brace supporting the trailer had broken through the wooden deck of the trailer on the bottom, Rosenberg explained. When the back end dropped down, it lost tension on the wrappers and the load shifted to the left.
As the truck driver rounded a corner to the right, the trailer was out of view of the cab when the load shifted to the left and hit the 1998 Acura headed southbound. The driver of the truck was not injured.
Rosenberg said the load was properly secured and the wood giving away was an unforeseen accident, so no charges are expected.
Police diverted traffic along Lower Road while Highway 101 was closed for four hours.
