A 22-year-old male was airlifted to a hospital in Vancouver after losing control of his vehicle, a Ford Mustang convertible, on Highway 101, Feb. 23.
Emergency crews including Sunshine Coast RCMP, paramedics and the Halfmoon Bay fire department responded to the single-vehicle accident near Mercer Road at 10:40 a.m. last Thursday.
Witnesses said that the car, travelling eastbound on the highway, crossed the oncoming lane and left the road, coming to rest upside down beside a pond.
An investigation is ongoing, but RCMP said speed and driver inattention are believed to be factors in the incident.
The highway was closed for an estimated 20 minutes while the scene was cleared. An air ambulance landed on the highway during this time to take the injured driver from the scene.
While no update on the male's condition is available at this time, Sgt. Russ Howard said he was conscious and speaking before being airlifted to hospital.
The driver had his full licence, Howard added.
While statistics are not yet available for the 2011 period, Highway 101 saw 290 car crashes in 2010, following a steady decrease from the 2006 rate of 340.
Out of 1,620 crashes on the Coast's highway during the period 2006-10, some 790 injuries were reported and 14 fatalities.
While the number of accidents has decreased yearly since 2006, the number of injuries has consistently increased.
