A male driver, 49, has been charged with a serious traffic violation following a three-car crash near Oasis on Monday afternoon.
RCMP Cpl. Devon Reid says driver error was the cause of the collision between a Trail-bound vehicle and two other cars driving toward Castlegar.
“One of the vehicles travelling southbound from Castlegar toward Trail crossed the centre line for no apparent reason,” he explained. “And struck two vehicles that were coming towards him in the other lane.”
Two passengers as well as the three drivers were transported to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital to be assessed for whiplash-type injuries, Reid confirmed.
“Because of the mechanism of injury of a head-on collision it’s always better to transport to hospital,” he said. “So to be safe they were all taken to hospital to be checked out for neck and back injuries.”
First responders from Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue were called out to extricate two males in the southbound vehicle. The highway was shut down from about 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Sgt. Darren Oelke issued a news release Tuesday afternoon to confirm that the driver of the southbound car has been charged with Driving without Due Care and Attention under the Motor Vehicle Act.
“A northbound SUV tried to move out of the way to avoid a collision but was side swiped by the car,” Oelke said. “A second northbound car was not so fortunate and was struck nearly head on … This accident could easily have been more serious … Police are requesting the public to drive to the road conditions, slow down and leave ample space between vehicles.”