An SUV heading east on a Saanich road crossed an intersection, went through construction barriers and slammed into a parked backhoe, witnesses say.
The driver died in the Friday collision, which crumpled the vehicle and dented the front bucket of the unoccupied backhoe parked on Tattersall Drive just off Quadra Street.
On Monday, tiny shards of vehicle detritus could still be seen on an exposed gravel section of the road.
Photos taken on Friday after the crash show the front end of the dark-coloured SUV crumpled up to the windshield.
Stephen Beugeling said he heard from other neighbours that the vehicle was being driven erratically on Tattersall and ran a red light on Quadra before the crash.
“[The driver] just flipped — supposedly — right through the red light … went through that whole front barricade,” he said.
Three other residents living on Tattersall told the Times 91原创 that emergency responders were tight-lipped about what had happened.
One neighbour who arrived on the scene slightly before Beugeling said people on the street put out a small vehicle fire that had started as a result of the crash.
The sound of the crash could be heard from 60 metres away, causing neighbours from across Quadra Street to come over to see what had happened, he said. The SUV had an N magnetic sticker on it, he said.
An N indicates the novice level of the graduated licensing program.
Municipal crews were on hand on Saturday to clean up vehicle fluids that had leaked onto the ground as a result of the crash, another neighbour said.
Saanich spokesperson Kelsie McLeod said the extent of damage to the backhoe is still being investigated.
Saanich police confirmed on Monday that the vehicle was travelling eastbound on Tattersall and that it had hit the front bucket of an unoccupied backhoe, but provided no further details.
The section of Tattersall Drive between Quadra and Kathleen streets is currently closed to traffic except for local residents due to ongoing utility upgrades.
A road-closure notice indicates the work is expected to wrap up at the end of February.
