A North Vancouver man is dead and a man from the Sunshine Coast is recovering in hospital after a head-on collision on Highway 1 at Mountain Highway on Saturday night.
According to RCMP, a driver headed west veered across the centre line at approximately 6:30 p.m. and crashed into an eastbound pickup truck and another car on a stretch of the highway divided by cones rather than a concrete median.
As an oil fire ignited in the car’s engine, passersby tried to aid the fatally injured driver, according to police.
“People stopped and assisted as much as they could,” said Port Mann RCMP Sgt. Roland Pierschke. The driver died as a result of his injuries.
There were no signs of excessive speed or alcohol. Road conditions were good, Pierschke said. “We’re still investigating. No causes as yet.”
Pierschke said a 69-year-old Garden Bay man, who was the driver and only occupant of one of the vehicles hit by the car that crossed into the wrong lane, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
There were a total of six fatal crashes on B.C.’s highways over the weekend, including a multi-vehicle collision approximately 30 kilometres north of Squamish on Highway 99, according to a release from B.C. RCMP Traffic Services.
– With files from Sean Eckford
