A Victoria mother and her two young sons are recovering from injuries after a head-on collision on the Malahat on Saturday, but friends say the trauma from the event will be long-lasting.
Jessica Payton was travelling to the Cowichan Valley with her sons, ages 3 1/2 and 2, to visit friends when the crash happened at about 5:40 p.m.
RCMP said a southbound SUV crossed the centre line and hit Payton’s small car head-on.
Police said the driver and passenger of the SUV had minor injuries and neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to be factors in the collision, which closed the Malahat for several hours.
Payton, a hairdresser and single mom who had been taking businesses classes at Camosun College, was still in Victoria General Hospital suffering from serious head trauma on Tuesday.
Her younger son, who was riding in a car seat, was treated for a broken collarbone and seatbelt contusions and released Monday into the care of close friends and family.
Payton’s other son, who was also riding in the back seat, remains in B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver with “serious head injuries,” according to family friend Alison Banton, who has started an online fundraising campaign for the family.
Less than 24 hours after it was launched, the GoFundMe campaign had raised ethee than $14,000. Banton said the goal is to at least relieve Payton’s financial burdens, adding organizers of the fundraiser would appreciate any donation. “It all adds up. Some of the expenses she will be facing will be a new car, car seats, rent, food.”
Banton said she hopes enough is raised to also provide counselling for the family. “Everyone is so traumatized and that’s something that will probably last a while.”
The crash, which occurred near the Malahat summit on a stretch of highway without median barriers, has renewed calls to finish installing the barriers on the entire highway route.
The Malahat now has concrete median barriers on more than 60% of the route, according to the Transportation Ministry. Only the Goldstream Park area and a four-kilometre section near the summit between Split Rock viewpoint and Bamberton are without the centre-line dividers.
A ministry spokesman on Tuesday could not immediately provide an answer as to whether the province has plans or a timeline to complete the barriers.
A proposed median barrier through Goldstream Park would increase the dividers to 75%, but that plan has been in limbo for years as discussions continue with First Nations about how the project would affect the Goldstream River.
“Something should be done to make it safer,” said Banton.
Another close friend, Marie Vaartstra, said a centre barrier would have prevented the collision and the hardships the family is now facing.
“It’s not like it’s the first time this has happened,” said Vaartstra. “The Malahat is known to be dangerous and I really don’t know why this isn’t a priority.”
She said the province “has to step up and take ownership” and make centre medians a priority. “And I’m saying they have to do this right now before it happens again.”
More than 29,000 vehicles a day travel the Malahat in the summer, according to the ministry. The average annual daily traffic is more than 25,000 vehicles per day.
Vaartstra said Payton’s concussion is serious. She is slipping in and out of consciousness and feels sick each time she tries to sit up.
“Imagine being so traumatized by all this, especially when one of your children is in another hospital and you can’t come to consciousness enough to even come to grips with what has happened,” Vaartstra said of Payton. “We really feel for her and her family.”
Malahat fire chief Tanya Patterson told CHEK News speed and medical issues are usually to blame for head-on collisions on the highway.
“The dividers do help with head-ons, and they keep people in their own lane if they have a medical issue or whatever else,” said Patterson.
