A car carrying three Saanich councillors was hit by an airborne van in a chain-reaction crash on the Patricia Bay Highway on Friday morning.
The three, headed to the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in Winnipeg, were shaken and sore but not seriously injured in the crash, which occurred about 7:45 a.m.
Central Saanich Police Cpl. Dan Cottingham said the driver of a northbound van started to turn left onto Keating Cross Road.
At the last moment, the driver attempted to make a U-turn into the southbound lanes instead, and the van was struck by a semi-trailer coming off the Keating Cross Road ramp.
The van then hurtled across the southbound lanes and into the northbound lanes, where it hit a car driven by Saanich Coun. Vic Derman and carrying councillors Colin Plant and Fred Haynes.
Plant said their car was struck on the front left side and forced into another vehicle.
“The van was in the middle of the air when it hit us,” he said.
Several factors, including the configuration of the road, would have made it difficult for the driver of the van to see the truck, police said.
However, the van’s driver is facing charges under the Motor Vehicle Act, Cottingham said.
B.C. Ambulance Service personnel transported the three councillors and at least two other people to Saanich Peninsula Hospital for observation.
Traffic was stopped in both directions, with northbound traffic backed up as far as Elk Lake, about 3.5 kilometres.
Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell, also headed to the annual convention, was one of those caught in the traffic jam.
Although delayed, he was able to make his flight.
Robert Palmer of WestJet said the air carrier delayed check-ins for two flights “in order to give the majority of guests affected by the accident time to get to the aircraft.”
Only a few guests arrived at the gate after the aircraft doors had been closed, Palmer said, and they were put on later flights.
Plant, Haynes and Derman caught a 2 p.m. WestJet flight.
“They were great and allowed us to rebook,” Plant said. “They actually put us into the Plus [class] seats when they heard we had been in an accident.”
