At 640am, Saanich Police, with the assistance of Saanich Fire and BC Ambulance attended to a reported collision on the Pat Bay Highway adjacent to Beaver Lake Park.
A vehicle, traveling northbound on Pat Bay, struck a deer. After the impact, the driver slowed and was struck from the rear by another vehicle. The impact with the deer sent it into the southbound lanes of the Pat Bay where it was struck a second time by a vehicle traveling southbound.
The second deer strike resulted in another set of rear-end collisions.
Six vehicles in total were involved, with four requiring Totem Towing to remove the vehicles from the highway. Ambulance attended to two of the drivers, but none of the drivers required transport to the hospital.
With the morning darkness during the commute, Saanich Police are reminding drivers to leave adequate space to stop or take action in the event of an emergency. At a highway speed of 80 km/h, a vehicle is travelling almost 20 metres per second. Distance is required to provide adequate time to stop or take action to avoid the car in front.
With incidents on both side of the highway requiring tow trucks and emergency personnel, the highway was congested for approximately 30-40 minutes with a backlog of traffic for the morning commute into Victoria.
The deer was last seen running east bound from the highway.
Det S/Sgt. Horsley