A tow-truck operator attending to some of the more than two dozen vehicles disabled by potholes along a stretch of Highway 19 in Nanoose Bay was struck when a van sideswiped his vehicle Tuesday night.
The operator, who suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, had been assisting some of the estimated 30 vehicles on the side of the road with flat tires and bent rims after hitting potholes along a 10-kilometre stretch of the highway between Lantzville and Nanoose Bay.
The Mid Island Towing and Transport truck from Nanaimo was sideswiped by a green Dodge Caravan, which fled the scene after the incident, around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Witnesses provided a licence plate number to RCMP, and officers with the B.C. Highway Patrol found a suspected vehicle and driver about 30 minutes later in Nanoose Bay, parked on the side of the road.
The driver was arrested and faces potential criminal charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm and failing to remain at the scene of an accident after his blood-alcohol level was measured at over three times the legal limit. He remains in custody.
Richard Taekema, manager of OK Tire in Parksville, called the scene at the side of the road Tuesday night “a bloody zoo,” saying he counted almost 30 disabled cars with their hazard lights on.
He said that there were large potholes — some up to a metre long and half a metre deep — in four sections of the highway.
With the recent rain, the potholes looked like puddles of water, he said.
“I believe ICBC would term these as collisions between the vehicle and the road — it won’t be just a comprehensive claim on your insurance,” said Taekema.
He said Tuesday was the second day that the potholes claimed victims. At the tire shop he manages, seven vehicles were towed in Tuesday morning from the night before, and Taekema said he heard that up to 100 vehicles suffered flats.
“One unlucky driver hit a pothole, which resulted in a flat. He got out and put on his spare tire, drove a short distance and hit another pothole, blowing out his spare,” he said.
The potholes seemed to be mainly on the right-hand lane of the highway for northbound drivers. Those travelling on the left-hand lane escaped damage.
Taekema, who drives the road daily, believes the potholes were the result of the recent cold snap.
Mainroad, the company contracted to maintain the highway, did not respond to requests for comment, but a large sign had been posted near Lantzville warning of potholes ahead. There was evidence some of the potholes had been filled with gravel but not asphalt.
“Seems like the problem was that the gravel came loose quickly and, with this rain, it was washed away. I can’t understand why they didn’t pack it with blacktop,” said Taekema.
Speed also contributed to the high number of vehicles disabled, as well as the time of day, he said. Travelling at 110 km/h gives drivers little time to react to a pothole, and with nightfall, visibility was limited, and the glare off the wet roadway did not help.
Some affected motorists may have to wait days to get their vehicles back on the road. In the best-case scenario, it may just be a day or two to find the right-sized tire.
But for those whose wheel — or wheels — were damaged, it will take time to source a replacement and have it shipped to the tire shop.
Mike Oldfield, manager of Mid Island Towing, did not want to talk about Tuesday night’s incident, fearing anything he said may jeopardize the pending charges against the person responsible for his driver’s brush with death.
“If there is anything good to come out of this, I hope that it would be to raise awareness for Slow Down, Move Over regulations for emergency and maintenance vehicles on the road,” said Oldfield.
In a 10-year period, 230 workers have been hit, 12 fatally, while working on and beside roads in B.C.
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