Emergency crews in View Royal dealt with six motor-vehicle incidents Tuesday morning, all of them caused by people driving too fast for road conditions.
The incidents began about 6:15 a.m. with three crashes in the area of the Trans-Canada Highway and Six Mile Road, including a rollover. There was also a crash at the Trans-Canada Highway and Helmcken Road.
One of the crashes was a head-on collision about 9 a.m. involving three vehicles near Six Mile Road and the Old Island Highway, said View Royal Fire Chief Paul Hurst.
Hurst said that crash involved a tourist who had just arrived in Victoria. “He had a rental car and he’d never driven in the snow, so he thought it would be a good day to go out and drive,” he said. “When he got to the intersection, the light turned red and he was doing the speed limit and he hit the brakes and went right through and hit a Modo car-share vehicle head-on.”
Injuries were minor in all of the Tuesday-morning incidents, Hurst said.
“We got lucky,” he said, adding conditions were very difficult for driving.
“It’s just a mess out here today,” he said. “It’s ice, it’s frozen solid and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a four-wheel drive or an all-wheel drive Audi.
“And just because the speed limit says 100, you don’t have to go that.”
Hurst said it looks as if cold weather will continue for a number of days and road conditions are not expected to improve any time soon. “If you don’t need to go out, stay home and enjoy the snow at home.”
Victoria police had no serious motor-vehicle incidents to report, but spokesman Bowen Osoko urged people to drive with care and stay off the roads if possible.
